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.
