Leonard Kateete was born in Uganda, 1951, and his interest in art began as he admired the statues of Mary and Jesus in the churches that he attended as a boy.

His interest in art began during a stay at his grandmother’s house in 1958. There, he observed the head of the household, Gligori, curve beds in his occupation as a traditional carpenter. Kateete admired the process and was much better at imitating Gligori’s actions than his brother. He went on to make a bed when he returned home, and it was used for years to come.

The schools that he attended were settings for artistic discovery. His Catholic school was a distribution centre for Christian sculptures and when the storage door was unlocked, Kateete would go admire the works.

Kateete also quickly learned about the personal risks that artists take when creating political works. He and three other students were commissioned to create a large portrait of Idi Amin. Kateete was also asked to create the only sculpture of the despot that was made during his rule. This garnered attention for Kateete on television and in the newspapers. In the wake of the Liberation War (1978-79), acquaintances and jealous neighbours labelled him as a government agent and sympathiser of Amin. Soldiers were brought to his home as a scare tactic and when he would meet his classmates, several would treat him unkindly. He and his family ultimately fled to Kenya in 1980 in fear for their lives.