BENON LUTAAYA (1985–2019)

Benon Lutaaya—a Ugandan-born, South Africa–based artist, activist, and arts patron—died on Saturday from cancer at the age of thirty-four. After earning a BFA in education from Kyambogo University in Kampala, Uganda, he moved to Johannesburg for a residency at the Bag Factory in 2011. Lutaaya often sourced found and recycled paper materials from the street to create collaged portraits, which were collected by South Africa’s Absa Museum, Ellerman’s Contemporary Art Collection, the Southern African Foundation for Contemporary Art, and other institutions.

In 2016, Lutaaya founded the nonprofit arts organization Project Space in Johannesburg, contributing more than $84,000 to the center’s programming, which includes two annual residencies that provide accommodations, studio space, and stipends for material and travel.

For a 2018 New York Times article, Lutaaya spoke about his reasons for starting the nonprofit: “[Female African artists] need to develop from within the system in a way to give them enough exposure to know what’s going on, to engage with the broader community, locally and globally. Once they do that, they became also great mentors for other young people they meet.”