Rosemary Karuga

Rosemary Namuli Karuga (19 June 1928 – 9 February 2021) was a Kenyan visual artist. In 2017, she was named Artist of the Month by the National Museums of Kenya. She is known to be the first woman artist to have studied at Makerere University.

Early life and education Karuga was born on 19 June 1928 in Meru, Kenya to a Ugandan father and a Kenyan mother, the youngest of two daughters. Karuga worked in commercial art for a short period before returning to Kenya. When brushes were scarce or too expensive, she made her own using feathers.

In 1987, she became an Artist in Residence at the Paa ya Paa Arts Centre in Nairobi.

Personal life Karuga married in 1953, having three children with her husband, and a number of grandchildren and great grandchildren. She lived in a small house in Nairobi. As well as teaching she was a subsistence farmer. Her husband only started to appreciate her art when it started to sell.

In 2006 Karuga moved to Ireland to live with family and to receive medical attention due to her failing health. She died on 9 February 2021 at the age of ninety-three at the Amberley Nursing Home in Fermoy, Ireland where she lived with her daughter.