In his serene yet uncanny wooden forms, Donald Wasswa transforms silk-tree and ebony into beings that merge nature, craftsmanship, and speculative narrative. Based in Kampala, Uganda, he integrates copper accents into smooth, organic shapes that recall marine life or creatures from a distant future — all while retaining an intimate sense of materiality. The shimmering metal echoes sensors or faintly glowing eyes, enhancing a sense of latent awareness, yet the figures remain enigmatic. Through the interplay of familiar curves and sharp appendages, each work stimulates wonder without succumbing to cliché, drawing on the sudden tension where softness meets edge, and where what feels known collides with the dreamlike.
Wasswa’s process combines meticulous carving, assembly, and layering of details to breathe subtle energy into inert objects. Represented by Circle Art Gallery, he explores how everyday materials might shape human futures — imagine objects whose hidden histories ripple forward, altering who we become. His pieces, some loosely reminiscent of jellyfish, hover between the organic and the speculative, encouraging us not to ask what they are but to ponder how matter might evolve alongside society, technology, and environment. This autumn, his creations will appear at the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London, offering glimpses of worlds both familiar and strangely reborn.
More info: Circle Art Gallery
