This video essay is both a personal journey and an introduction to a rural Ugandan artist
When Ugandan-American artist Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine’s car died in the town of Mbirizi during a 2002 visit, he happened upon a small portrait studio run by a man named Kibaate Aloysios Ssalongo. That stopover and chat with Ssalongo would impact the next decades of his life, which Mwine spent archiving the work by the rural photographer. Memories of Love Returned is Mwine’s memorial of the artist and a tender exploration of art and memory.
Through the video essay, Ssalongo’s photography is celebrated. Mwine compiled decades of video from his trips back to Mbirizi and incorporates it in a conversational manner. The composition and editing of this documentary is well-considered and takes the viewer through pieces of Mwine’s personal life journey and his attempts in 2017 to reenact certain Ssalongo shots with the original subjects. The film culminates in a later outdoor art exhibit of the photographer’s work at a Mbirizi petrol station, where we see the impact of the show on the community.
There’s a strong sense of joy within Mwine’s film; the soundtrack full of African pop music adds to this overall feeling. But Memories of Love Returned also tenderly touches on issues of modern-day Uganda (AIDS, queer love in a country with harsh laws against LGBTQ folks) that are evident in the subjects Ssalongo photographed decades ago. The storytelling style here is utterly engaging. At one point, I was on the edge of my seat.
In conversations with the artist’s family and friends, Mwine aims to convey the complicated man behind the camera and his legacy that may be lost. Memories of Love Returned, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh, is an energetic, gently compelling meditation on the importance of art in community, especially as a method of history-keeping.
Memories of Love Returned screened over the weekend at Slamdance Film Festival.
