Kemiyondo Coutinho; art- her affluence, her calling

“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

RALPH WALDO EMERSON.

Artistry; its expression, it’s enjoyment and the processes encompassing these, represents a profusion and vast majority of things to humanity for various reasons.

To one, it symbolizes the sacred spaces of developed human philosophy put into words and melody. To another, it is the means to table the complexity of human emotion in portraiture; the synthesis of color into controversial amalgamations of sculpture and painting. In the end for all and for others, art is the language that bids you take heed- not of the words and their conjugation or pronunciation, but to the feelings evoked by the sound of them and the flow of them.

Artistry- the creative skill and ability, requires such an attention and possession of faith and conviction in the so seemingly simple truths, so much so, that every child in a way is born an artist but struggles with growing up to indeed remain one, attached to what is no longer as seemingly simple anymore. Artistry is something that requires the retention and harnessing of a considerable courage to continually sit into the simplistic, and have the chaos you witness inside and around you, birth promise, as the facades that drew you in are torn and life is born. Art in the end surmises to becomes the lie you must practice to unveil the truth you know and believe to others; the process of seeing ourselves in the things we are not but should be. Artistry becomes the way we lose ourselves continuously to find ourselves, washing away from the soul the dirt of everyday life. These are some of the more salient overarching principles concerning art I know as an artist, and have seen in other artists come to be the ultimate expression of an internal affluence, they have been called to.

In this season of celebrating females in art, meet Kemiyondo Countinho; one of the many artistic matriarchs of our Uganda; as affluencial in artistic expression and as called to express art for others, by expressing it for herself.

For her, art must be a calling for one to pursue it.

KEMI: “It is too hard. You lose too many relationships. You lose too much sleep for it to be a hobby. When young artists ask me if they should pursue acting, or their art I always ask them “Is there any other thing you could do that would make you just as happy as this?” If they say “Yes, teaching” or whatever, I say go do that thing! If they say nope, then I give them a big hug, <joke; I don’t like hugs>, but I hug them in my mind because for me it means they have been called. When you get called there is nothing you can do but answer that call. So for me with art, what it means to me and what it does for me; It is a calling. I didn’t choose it, it chose me.”

Delving into how her relationship with art and her artistry, she had this to say;

KEMI: “I have a love-hate relationship with it to be honest. I love stability. I love security. I love independence. Art kind of rips you of that, at least for the time being. It makes you humble. Relying on your parents way too long, not sure when the next gig will come, not sure if it will ever come?! But then, then!, then you see the reaction in the audience to your work, then you hear how your work has influenced someone in their path and you remember why you love it. But then you also have a bill to pay– it’s like a constant negotiation.”

Kemiyondo was born in Kampala Uganda to Ugandan parents. At the age of three weeks she moved to Swaziland where she was initially educated. At thirteen she joined the United World College of Waterford Kamhlaba in 2001. She graduated in 2007 and went to Portland, Oregon to attend the Lewis and Clark College to graduate with a double major in Theater and Communications. She got her Masters in Fine Arts at The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T). Now currently based and residing in Los Angeles CA, she refers to herself as an African nomad and rightly so.

Having had the opportunity to live and study in other countries, I asked how that has helped, contributed or affected the development of her art, its process and its journey;

KEMI: “I would say my most defining years were 13-19 at boarding school because my school had 58 different nationalities. It taught me how diverse people are. Which silently taught me that different was okay. I was never taught to be “tolerant.” I was shown how to embrace difference. I was taught that I may be different from you and you from me and that is okay. I feel that affects my art because my art addresses instances where people do not think like that.”

Interesting is how centric the beginning and commitment to this calling within art begun with education. For Kemiyondo, it started as a 8 year old in primary school. Eventually, in the High school she attended, she was required to do music, performing arts and visual arts within her first two years. Her career kick starter came through a senior project and set her on this trajectory of an artistic journey.

KEMI: “There were three main roles in a school play, “Mercury and two Earthlings“. My primary school, looking back, had serious undertones of colonialism. We didn’t even audition, the teacher cast two white students as the earthlings and cast an American girl as Mercury. Like no Audition. I remember being quite annoyed. Any who lucky for me, American girl wanted to be Venus because girls were from Venus. I saw this as my chance. I told the teacher I wanted to be Mercury. And she gave me the role. In some ways this sums up every milestone. In high school, <love my high school! best school ever>, Waterford Kamhlaba, for my final project I wanted to do a show about African Women. Long story short, there weren’t any and so I wrote one. I’ve spoken about this story in many interviews so I think it gets boring but the moral is, I didn’t just complain, I complained and wrote and acted and toured it and kick started my self starting career.”

Since then, in 2007, she wrote and acted in Jabulile! which was performed at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. This play was later produced in Canada and in New York and Chicago. The play addressed the lack of opportunity open to Swazi women traders. Her second play, Kawuna…you’re it, also addressed this inequality in particular with regard to HIV/AIDS in 2012.

KEMI: “After that, I started an arts festival, started A Ka Dope, wrote, acted and directed in Kyenvu and am currently working on my next film that I will write, act and direct in. I say this not to show off but rather to let people know that you will waste a lot of time waiting for someone to hand something to you. Take that mercury role!”

However, what she considers her biggest achievement indeed by its existence, is testament to the greatness of such an achievement like A ka Dope;

KEMI: “I would term and consider A ka Dope, my biggest achievement as an artist so far. Without a doubt. Especially because it was so unexpected for me. I am not a singer or a musician and so for me to create this platform that is so close to my heart truly is something beyond me. A Ka Dope was the first project I created that had nothing to do with me. That is how I knew it was connected to my purpose. It was about other artists. It took up all my time, all the money I didn’t have and all the energy I didn’t know I had and it had nothing to do with me. It taught me what it means to keep going. It taught me how to lead. It put me up to the task of helping other artists. Many artists say, when I make it big I will help this and this in my country. A Ka Dope allowed me to do it now! Before I make it big, before I have the funds, it forced me to make do with what I have. It taught me that we do not have to wait to help others, you can help with what you have now. Because if you can’t do it with the little you have now, it will be even harder when you have more. “

For herself is the self proclamation of the vocation of an “Artrepeneur.” Within her artistic calling of a journey, she is for others in her art by being for herself too. Centrally for her is the deep realization that all these things she is as an artist, she is for others as well because the voice of the African woman is in fact needed and especially relevant in the artistic realm. She is now a playwright, performer, actress, activist and even recently, a Pan African Film Festival award wining director, creating for herself an artistic identity in the places where traditional articulations would label such a morphing hybridity of artistry, anomalous.

Within our own culture and personal circumstances, sometimes it very difficult to veer out of the would be norm, especially for the female even now in subliminally pronounced ways if you’d care to look around. This is what Kemiyondo had to say;

KEMI: “I think being a female is hard. I think being an artist is hard. So those two put together is hard. I get over it and I create anyway…and throw shade about it on Twitter while I do. Currently residing in Los Angeles CA, it is hard being Black in America. It is hard being female in America. It is hard being African (or the other) in America. I create anyway. I don’t wait for the audition I create my own work and start from there. It is hard but it is a calling not a choice.”

I feel what I learn from artists like these that choose to press on with who they are and what they have is a lesson we should be supporting in ourselves reminding others around us of, glaring this truth in the face of our nation and continent, for our nation and continent. African female artists and their artistry is a would be anomaly, so profound, because in their artistry and with its achievement, they are ordinary people that were true to who they felt they were, and because they continued in directions they felt called to for their art, this is what they achieve for others like me, by achieving for themselves- extraordinary articulation of self and society.

For Kemiyondo, some of the female artists that have shaped this resilience and perspective in her as seen in the fruit of her achievement, include the following;

KEMI: “Danai Gurira- I saw her acting in In The Continuum when I was 17 and decided there and then to go to grad school and be a professional actor. Issa Rae– She is goals. She is a doer. She didn’t wait on opportunity. She just went after it! MoRoots– I love her. In a way that you would think I don’t know her. Every time I hear her sing I become the stranger and groupie that I was when I first heard her. She is the reason I started A Ka Dope. I thought there is no way this talent in our country should be hidden. Brenda Fassie- I always related to her being a rebel and playing it by her own rules. Ava Duvernay- She is talented and all the many things we know but she is also really, really kind. I met her 2 years ago and she was just so kind. I could never get over that. You see it in how she supports other people. That kindness I admire. Not many have it in Hollywood- especially to “nobody’s” but Ms. Ava has it. Regina King- I love that she doesn’t allow herself to be confined to actress or director or producer she does BOTH. I just wanna shadow her for a week. Salma Hayek- Oh I just adore her fight for women and how she does it with so much integrity and class. Truly inspiring.”

This is what these female artists achieve for their countries, races, and continents. We see it more pronouncedly on some of the international platforms they have been celebrated on with nominations and awards. I asked Kemiyondo what she would say is her biggest dream for herself as an artist? ( as big as it gets);

KEMI: “I want to write and star in a TV show based on the short film I am shooting next month. I want A Ka Dope to become a platfrom through out the continent. I want to be able to fund Ugandan directors’ projects and through that encourage more Ugandan women to direct. I want Kyenvu to go to the Oscars. I want to direct a multimillion budget film about an African Story. A dream for each of my professions- Writing, Acting, A Ka Dope, Directing, Mentoring, Kyenvu.”

To a female artist in Uganda starting out in light of her own experiences from staring out as one she would urge them to create;

KEMI: “Create. Create. Create! Every night before you sleep ask yourself what you have done to move your career path forward. It can be anything, update your website, update your Facebook page, write a sentence or two, record the song, take new editorial photos. It doesn’t matter. Just make sure everyday you can say you have done one thing to keep you moving forward. One day you will look up and realize you are no longer starting out as an artist and you are an artist. About myself, I celebrate my ability to grind. To truly grind. I wrote a tweet about it that a lot of people took to:-

“I apply for something every week. Yup. Every week.
Now think of how many things I announce that I have actually gotten. I hustle for more than I receive. As it should be.
You never know which one is the door. So keep trying that key in all of them.”

“I like this tweet because this is me and how I have achieved everything. By just trying over and over again. Opening myself to hurt of slammed doors or locked doors or broken doors in pursuit of that feeling when you put that key in and it turns with no hesitation. that is what I celebrate.”

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Together with Kemiyondo, I celebrate the artistic matriarchs like her leading, guiding with her art for herself and others. I celebrate them immensely. I celebrate what their art is because of who they have chosen and decided to be.

I celebrate the acceptance and pride they have in themselves, despite their backgrounds, African female stories and struggles they have typically had just because they are human. I am shamed by their successes, when I think of the doubts I have hopelessly had in myself and others. Maybe you have too. But we are shamed in those doubts by the drive and existence of such female artist and their artistry, and gladly so.

Gladly, so indeed.

Kemiyondo Coutinho; art- her affluence, her calling

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