In June 2021, the boisterous Mama "Kampala" was deprived of her identity, stripped naked of her people. Kampala's normal day is defined by two things: urgency and trade. Ordinarily the streets are crammed with hustlers and pedestrians; employees running late to work or trying to catch a taxi home, street vendors hawking bananas, limes gum or pirated music CDs. In the belly of the city at Mini Price, vendors peddle second-hand clothes, plastic shoes, Brazilian hair, and cosmetics, while being entertained by comedians and street performers.
If you wade along the narrow and congested lanes of downtown Kampala, you’d be wise to stay alert. There is an unwritten rule: be careful or a careless boda-boda will make you pay with your ribs. Tread carefully or your foot might squash someone's tomatoes. The city is characterized by humans, trading, trying, and connecting. All this stalled when COVID-19 reached in and took hold, triggering a harsh and total lockdown. I paid the nude city a visit in the middle of the lockdown, hoping to visually explore the contours of the city laid bare. Through my lens I stared at a shaming sight: a city devoid of her people, a city silenced by a virus the eyes cannot see.
An aerial view of Majestic Plaza’s entrance. On normal days it's usually filled with a number of vendors and the sewage tank is hidden.
An aerial view of the new taxi park, usually home to a legendary sea of chaotic humanity, now empty and silent.
Wilson Street is known to be one of the busiest streets and its signs can be hard to read with all the crowds. But in the lockdown, everything was left bare to see.
Mini Price is known for its broad range of artificial hair, and because of its crowdedness vendors used to even pull people by the hand to convince them to buy their products.
Clock Tower, known for its terrible traffic of cars, bodies, and people using the Entebbe road.
Galiraya Complex during lockdown filled with skeleton stalls. On normal days these stalls are decorated and one cannot see their skeletons; it's even hard to see the stalls because of the number of people.
Majestic Plaza’s entrance. On normal days it's usually filled with a number of vendors and the sewage tank is hidden.
Police officers attempt to arrest a vendor in Kampala, Uganda, on June 25, 2021, after the public was directed by Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni to stay home for 42 days starting June 18, 2021, to curb the spread of COVID-19.
This makeshift photo studio in Ggaba was a source of income to six brothers who kept it well decorated and sparkling clean. But with the lockdown in place, the studio was abandoned and left with dirty covers.
Kampala Road stage during lockdown. On a normal day one can't see the bus stop.
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