THE BUSUTI
Category: Apparel
Competitions: Africa
My project / Dress is inspired by Culture. It is made of a combination of leather, sisal and wood. I was born a year after the Rwanda genocide and growing up, we were told scary stories of how people lost their lives in the war; of how many rwandese fled to Uganda. Growing up, I had many rwandese friends in school and i would think about how they felt about their history. I also found that in their culture, as well as in ours, we were both connected by the long horned ankole cow. For this grand competition, I thought of a dress that combines both the Ugandan central cultural wear of gomesi and the rwandan mushanana, crowned by the the horned sleeves significant of the long cattle horns. It can both be donned as an official cultural wear or as a party dress. I hope that everytime it is worn, it will remind the audience of the love Ugandans showed the Rwandans when they hosted and resettled them during the perilous times. and the cultural unity that has been harnessed with time.
