Description
Nasser Road is nicknamed 'Uganda's Silicon Valley. Strategically located near Kampala's commercial and political centres, this narrow street crammed with bustling arcades forms the heart of the city's printing trade. It is also a byword for creative and fraudulent paper-work; from identity cards to university degrees, a convincing replica of just about any official document can be acquired in Nasser Road.
This publication pays tribute to one of the street's most commercially successful products, a constantly-updated series of posters depicting politicians and well-known personalities as superheroes. These locally-created icons feature images of prominent figures such as Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden or Muammar Gaddafi, each transformed into RoboCop-like figures, ready for combat. The artworks are both decorative and political, telling the story of the common man's struggle against the might of Western imperialism, with international villains celebrated as anti-heroes.
Kristof Titeca (BE) has been collecting the posters of Nasser Road for over twenty years, drawn by their unique perspective and distinctive style. Nasser Road is a collage of works by local designers presented alongside recent and vintage prints, and accompanied by Titeca's analysis. It also contains photographs of Nasser Road made by the author, as well as by Ugandan photographers Katumba Badru Sultan and Zahara Abdul, and accompanied by a number of columns from playwright and essayist Yusuf Serunkuma.
This book was printed and produced in Nasser Road itself.
This publication pays tribute to one of the street's most commercially successful products, a constantly-updated series of posters depicting politicians and well-known personalities as superheroes. These locally-created icons feature images of prominent figures such as Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden or Muammar Gaddafi, each transformed into RoboCop-like figures, ready for combat. The artworks are both decorative and political, telling the story of the common man's struggle against the might of Western imperialism, with international villains celebrated as anti-heroes.
Kristof Titeca (BE) has been collecting the posters of Nasser Road for over twenty years, drawn by their unique perspective and distinctive style. Nasser Road is a collage of works by local designers presented alongside recent and vintage prints, and accompanied by Titeca's analysis. It also contains photographs of Nasser Road made by the author, as well as by Ugandan photographers Katumba Badru Sultan and Zahara Abdul, and accompanied by a number of columns from playwright and essayist Yusuf Serunkuma.
This book was printed and produced in Nasser Road itself.