When the Covid-19 lockdown forced the world into an unfamiliar stillness, Doddridge Busingye found himself in a quieter studio than he had ever known. Exhibitions were paused. Conversations faded. Nothing seemed urgent. For an artist whose earlier work leaned heavily on social commentary, the silence was unsettling. But instead of scrambling for a new external subject, Busingye turned inward.
He tells this story from his studio, where he describes himself as an upcoming artist. He explains that he understands growth as a man who has steadily built his craft, expanded his medium, and refined his gaze over time.
The boy who drew
The isolation reshaped him and his ideas. Art had already claimed him, but the slowdown tickled something innate. As a child, Busingye grew up in a household where drawing was usual. His older brother pinned sketches to the walls of their shared bedroom. He watched closely, absorbing technique without formal instruction. By Primary Five, he was drawing with confidence. Even earlier, he had illustrated Bible stories into cartoon panels, inspired by the storybooks he encountered at school. Art unfolded naturally in his life. His father, a lawyer, sometimes used drawings instead of reprimands. If someone had taken sugar from the kitchen, a sketch of a mouse with crystals on its whiskers would appear as a silent message. Busingye learnt early that images could communicate what words did not need to shout. Suggestion could be more powerful than accusation. That lesson stayed with him.
Recognition and reward
In secondary school, Busingye’s talent began to translate into recognition. He won art competitions against older students. He was paid to complete assignments and design lettering. Creativity became more than self-expression; it became utility and income. After completing his undergraduate degree in 2015, he pursued a master’s degree, finishing in 2019. During these years, his work centred on portraiture and direct social commentary. He painted what he observed; youth navigating relationships, political symbolism, the tensions of modern urban life. His gaze was outward.
A shift in medium
A significant shift began in 2018 during the Kampala Art Biennale. Exposure to installation art expanded his understanding of medium. He saw how objects, space and context could carry meaning just as effectively as paint. That year, he created ‘The Master Bedroom’, relocating the image of a slum dweller’s bed into gallery space to explore class contrast and urban realities. When the piece sold, it confirmed something fundamental: Busingye’s ideas, not just his brushwork, held value. His practice widened.
Lockdown arrives
Then came lockdown. With public life suspended, Busingye confronted an unfamiliar question; what remains when the outside world goes quiet? The answer was not immediate, but it was honest. He began examining mental health, loneliness, vulnerability and identity. Instead of painting society’s fractures, he painted his own. Instead of reacting to politics, Busingye filtered it through personal experience.
The triptych self-portrait
This inward turn culminated in ‘Tender, the Fractured and the Quietly Extraordinary’, a body of work anchored by a triptych self-portrait. In one panel, he appears fragile and forming. In another, he is boxed in, constrained by invisible pressures. In the final frame, he sits upright, crowned subtly in homage to Basquiat, acknowledging strength without erasing vulnerability. The progression reads like biography: tenderness, fracture, emergence.
Politics with restraint
Even when he addressed politics, his approach shifted. A painting created during an election season depicted a woman holding a cigarette as multiple arms extended flames toward her. The metaphor was clear yet restrained. The citizen stood at the centre while politicians scrambled to offer promises. He chose suggestion over spectacle.
Busingye believes art can ignite conversation, but he also believes it must be handled responsibly. He thinks carefully about bias, interpretation and the emotional consequences of imagery.
Finding an audience
During lockdown, as he shared his work more consistently online, audiences beyond Uganda began to engage. A solo exhibition abroad followed, and recognition grew. Yet he continues to describe himself as upcoming. The word reflects his philosophy more than his status. He views art as an unfolding process. Authenticity, for him, lies in owning the story, not in remaining loyal to one medium or style. If he moves from acrylic to charcoal tomorrow, that shift is growth.
Outside the studio
He confesses that he is a wide consumer outside the studio. Because reading strains his eyes, he listens to audiobooks and lectures. Blues music, especially Leonard Cohen, occupies Busingye’s long listening sessions. He watches films and series for how characters negotiate identity and power. Everything becomes research.
The unfinished work
Isolation reshaped Busingye’s art, but perhaps more importantly, it reshaped his gaze. He no longer paints simply to observe the world but to understand his place in it. And by continuing to call himself upcoming, he signals that the work of understanding is far from finished.