The Walther Collection

Conceptual Framework

Gulu Real Art Studio is an installation of 90 studio portraits collected by the photographer Martina Bacigalupo from the Gulu Real Art Studio in Gulu, Uganda. Edited from hundreds of discarded, faceless images – the faces were originally cut out for standardized ID photos – the exhibition represents a typological cross-section of Gulu's society today, a city subjected to violent conflicts over several decades. Vivid and diverse, the distinctions of clothing and pose in each image reveal markers of self-definition, illustrating the compelling story of one East African community and the significance of studio portraiture in the twenty-first century.

For further information, please see our exhibition guide.