{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1748326"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1748326/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NL8147/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2023NL8147/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2023NL8147","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2023NJ5243","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1748326","accessionNumber":"T.79-2023","objectType":"Wall hanging","titles":[{"title":"Ripe and Ready","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Sanaa Gateja (born 1950, Kisoro, Uganda) is an artist and jewellery designer who has exhibited internationally and whose work is held by the National Museum of Kenya and the National Museum of Uganda as well as American and UK museums. \r\n\r\nGateja works with a variety of materials including bark cloth, raffia, wood and banana fibre. However, it is his long-standing work with beads for which he is best known and for which he earnt his moniker ‘The Bead King’ in Uganda. Gateja’s first enterprise, whilst still in his twenties, was Studio Sanaa in Mombasa, a gallery with workshop and design studio attached. The Ugandan Civil War prompted a move abroad and while teaching at Goldsmiths, London, he began to evolve a method of constructing paper beads and realised they could become central to his practice. Gateja points to the significance of beads in African history: their importance in Egyptian culture, the scale of trading history, their use as a form of money, adornment and accessory to spiritual practices. Their construction involves rolling elongated triangles of paper on a toothpick and then giving a wash of colour using natural dyes. The paper used for the construction of the beads is always recycled, embedding a mass of disused text and information into the work. On occasion this paper material carries added historical significance such as the use of Chinese propaganda magazines found on the streets in Kampala, or the leaflets and posters from Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, used for the hanging ‘Change’, 2010. On close inspection of these works, snippets of text can be deciphered on the surface of the beads, which hint at this mass of information fossilised into the work. The combination of text and colour result in the beads having a variegated appearance, each having their own unique character which adds subtlety to the blocks of colour in the composition. The beads are stitched, one by one, onto a bark cloth backing and the resulting hanging has a weighty drape giving an appealing ‘textile’ nature. The beads are also used in Gateja’s jewellery, often to create shawls or embellished collars. \r\n\r\nCentral to the artist’s philosophy is a philanthropic agenda to endow people with skills to create their own art or artifacts to earn a living. At his training programme at the Kwetu Africa Art and Development Centre, trainees spend a week learning this bead-making technique and then disseminate their learning to others. In this way the reach of these paper beads has expanded to support many individuals and cottage industries. The use of cheap, plentiful and renewable material is key within this system.\r\n","physicalDescription":"Wall hanging of paper beads with natural dyes, sewn onto bark cloth. The hanging is from a series which feature fruit laden trees and plants flowering. In ‘Ripe and Ready’ a tree’s brown trunk supports a mass of leaves and blossom. The bright colours of the blossom are set against a vivid green background. A fringe of bead tassels hangs from the bottom, adding to the allusion of a textile rug or hanging.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Sanaa Gateja","id":"AUTH392006"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":"Gateja runs a studio with assistants helping create works to his designs. "}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bark cloth","id":"AAT48116"}],"techniques":[{"text":"hand beading","id":"x34622"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Paper beads sewn onto bark cloth (made from Ficus tree bark)","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"T&F","id":"THES48601"},"images":["2023NL8147","2023NJ5243"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES343697"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"hanging","id":"AAT205010"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Uganda","id":"x35675"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2022","earliest":"2022-01-01","latest":"2022-12-31"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"220","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"including tassles"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"120","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Wall hanging, ‘Ripe and Ready’, paper beads with natural dyes, sewn onto bark cloth, Sanaa Gateja, Kampala, Uganda, 2023.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["T.79-2023"],"accessionNumberNum":"79","accessionNumberPrefix":"T","accessionYear":2023,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-13","recordCreationDate":"2023-03-17","availableToBook":false}}