Promising or bleak: Let’s explore the future of makeup artists in Uganda
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Raven Ruma
- . January 6, 2024
- . Update: January 8, 2024 1:19 pm
Esther Nakaziba has stamped her name in the local movie and music industry as a special effects (SFX) makeup artist. The Ugandan says she can create anything a film producer desires, including fake bruises, swollen faces and rotten skin, reported Africanews.
She studies her model before carrying out the long shape-shifting process – just like a painter. She taught herself and she says more people in the country are entering the creative sector to face an increasing demand from the film and entertainment industry.
Is art a solution for Uganda’s overwhelming unemployment rate?
Makeup artists are in demand for movie sets and music videos to alter actors’ appearances and create different visual scenarios. But Nakaziba also highlighted the need for the Ugandan government to recognise their creation – as it could help subsequently tackle unemployment.
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She says art is not really recognised in Uganda to be a serious career and yet it is. She is the organiser of a makeup artistry fair aimed at bringing all the talents together. The exhibition expected to help train the youth and overall, allow the small community to know each other.
Meekness Kakunzira, a local content producer and an actress, has also expressed hope about the future of makeup artists in Uganda. “I am glad that we are growing, we are improving,” she noted, highlighting “there is a big shift in the industry.”
New pool of talent changing future of makeup artists in Uganda
Uganda has seen several blockbuster films shot in the country, such as Last King of Scotland. But for a long time, the country had no film makeup artists. Producers have been outsourcing the services from other parts of the continent and Hollywood.
However, circumstances have now started to change, thanks to the new pool of talent. Grace Murema, film makeup artist, said: “So now at least they go to Nigeria, they come to Kenya, they come to Uganda so at least we have started scattering everywhere.”