Staying Alive – documenting the Uganda Cancer Institute

Afriart Gallery | August, 2017

‘Staying Alive’ is the title of an exhibition and of the 7th book in the Ebifananyi series and two exhibitions. One of the exhibitions took place at Afriart Gallery, the other one on the balcony of the new six story inpatient building of the Uganda Cancer Institute. Books and exhibitions present photographic documentation from the late 1960s and early 1970s and from more recent pasts, and reflections in words on the photographs and the history of the institute by Marissa Mika and I.

The Uganda Cancer Institute was the first major cancer research and treatment facility in the Great Lakes region. It celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. While part of the reputation of the institute was/is that it is a place where people (are sent to) die, the aim is of course to keep them alive and develop knowledge about the disease that caught them.

With these exhibitions I hope to contribute to the image of the place that was and is, to celebrate the people that for shorter or longer periods of their lives lived or worked there. More can be read in a series of 123456 blog posts on the HIPUganda website.

The framed photographs that were on display in the Gallery will all be re-installed in the buildings of the Uganda Cancer Institute. Documentation will be added to this gallery.