Rosemary Karuga’s lifetime of remarkable achievements has placed her as a major figure in Kenya’s modern art history. In 1950 she became the first female student to attend the Margaret Trowell School of Fine and Applied Arts in Kampala, where she trained in clay work, wood carving and stone carving. Following her graduation, Karuga worked for many years as an art teacher in rural Kenya and it was only on her retirement that she pursued a professional art practice. Using mostly paper packaging, newspapers and magazines, Karuga developed an approach to collage which was unique at the time in East Africa, creating images which harness both extraordinary detail and charming simplicity.
Karuga’s international reputation grew when she exhibited in the group show, Contemporary African Artists: Changing Tradition, alongside El Anatsui and Ablade Glover at the Studio Museum, New York, 1990. She was asked to illustrate a book by the Yoruba writer Amos Tutuola and the resulting exhibition took the artist and her collage works to Paris. As well as continuing to feature in international exhibitions, Karuga’s recognition increased at home as one of Gallery Watatu’s most highly esteemed artists, and in 2017 she was named Artist of the Month by the National Museums of Kenya. Karuga passed away in Ireland, where she had lived since 2006.
