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Unity by Lilian Nabulime

Lilian Nabulime’s Unity – found in Newcastle University’s Devonshire Building – embodies themes of sustainability, environmental awareness and the act of caring.

The artwork

Unity comprises three figures carved from the trunk of a sycamore tree. This particular tree once stood on the site of the new Devonshire Building, which itself was designed with energy conservation, the environment and sustainability in mind.

Lilian Nabulime told Newcastle University that the sculptures’ themes connected directly to the act of sustaining and caring for our environment. 

Lilian Nabulime is a well-established contemporary female Ugandan artist with a passion for wood carving.

A graduate of the Margaret Trowell School of Industrial and Fine Art (MTSIFA) in Uganda, Nabulime was taught by one of Uganda’s greatest sculptors, Francis Nnaggenda. The influence and guidance of Nnaggenda is evident throughout Nabulime’s artwork, not only in its large-scale execution but also through the continued use of wood.  

Nabulime’s work also uses ordinary objects – from soap and cloth to mirrors and car parts – to embody a specific social agenda, such as disease, gender and environmental issues. Her art raises awareness and promotes discussion, moving the meaning beyond the visual.

Nabulime obtained her PhD in Fine Art at Newcastle University in 2007. She has also been awarded a number of prestigious fellowships, including:

  • Robert Sterling Fellowship
  • the Commonwealth Fellowship Award (UK, 1997, 2012)
  • British Academy International Visiting Fellowship (UK, 2009, 2008)
  • Vermont Studio Centre (USA, 2011)
  • African Stones Talk Sculpture Symposium (Kenya, 2011)
  • a Residency Award by Mind Power Projects at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and Living Classrooms in Baltimore, Maryland (2015)

She held the post of Residency Artist at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design’s Ceramics and Glass Department in Jerusalem, Israel, from 2019 to 2020. She is also Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Art at Makerere University