Sanaa Gateja: Language of We

Discover the transformative power of recycled materials through vibrant, handcrafted tapestries that bridge traditional African artistry with contemporary social practice. Sanaa Gateja: Language of We will be on display at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami (ICA) from May 10 through November 2, featuring a dozen tapestries created by the renowned Ugandan artist over the past eight years.

This solo exhibition showcases Gateja's distinctive artistic approach, which combines paper-bead making—a technique he learned while studying jewelry-making at Goldsmiths, University of London—with inspiration from the basket weavers and blacksmiths of his childhood village. Having recognized the potential of creating valuable objects from discarded paper, Gateja returned to Africa in 1990 and shared this method with women and youth in communities and refugee camps, helping establish sustainable local handicraft economies.

The exhibited tapestries demonstrate Gateja's laborious and collaborative process. Working with artisans he has trained and employed since the early 1990s, Gateja recycles discarded papers, dyes them through various processes and rolls them into three-quarter-inch beads. These beads are then affixed to bark cloth—a traditional East African textile—following the artist's sketches, often incorporating raffia and banana fibers. The resulting works span multiple pictorial genres including still life, portraiture and abstraction.

Materially complex and visually striking, these woven pictures create connections with their environment and cultural lineages while engaging with the global landscape of media and printed information. Gateja's work represents both a continuation of traditional craft practices and a contemporary commentary on consumption, sustainability and community.

Sanaa Gateja (b. 1950, Kisoro, Uganda) has gained international recognition, having been included in the 2022 Carnegie International and representing the Ugandan Pavilion at the 60th Venice Biennale in 2024. His works are held in museums and private collections worldwide, including the Carnegie Museum, the de Young Museum, the Field Museum, the National Scottish Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

The exhibition is curated by Gean Moreno, Director of the Art + Research Center at ICA Miami.