Unnatural Spaces

For Ugandan artist Robert Ssempijja, nature has always been a profound source of inspiration, deeply rooted in childhood memories of school holidays spent in the villages of Uganda. As a young boy, he would visit his grandparents, where he first felt the earth beneath his fingers, playing in their gardens amidst the soil and greenery. These formative experiences left an indelible mark, a sensory memory of being intimately connected to the natural world. Now, as an artist working across diverse environments from urban concrete jungles to rural landscapes Ssempijja finds himself continually drawn back to those moments. They serve as a reminder of humanity’s intrinsic bond with nature, a bond often forgotten in modern life as we distance ourselves from the very ecosystems that sustain us.

This project emerged from this longing to reconnect. Created during a residency at the Bækkelund International Residency Center for Artists (BIRCA) in Denmark, this experimental installation challenges the boundaries between the man made and the natural. The work centers on a chair a quintessential human object entirely covered in living moss, placed within a brick bordered square in an open field. The chair, overtaken by nature, stands in stark contrast to the urban environments where nature is often sidelined, confined to designated parks or forgotten entirely. Through this piece, Ssempijja explores how nature can reclaim spaces not traditionally associated with its presence, asserting its resilience in the face of human intervention.

The installation is both a visual and conceptual dialogue. The moss, a slow-growing, tenacious organism, symbolizes nature’s enduring ability to adapt and thrive despite adversity be it concrete sprawl, environmental degradation, or the scars of conflict. Ssempijja reflects on this resilience as one of the world’s most profound and beautiful forces: “We have done so much to nature, yet it always finds a way to persist, to live.” The brick border surrounding the chair adds another layer, representing humanity’s attempt to contain and control the natural world, yet the moss spills over, defying those boundaries. This tension mirrors broader ecological and cultural questions: How do we coexist with nature? How do we reconcile our constructed environments with the organic systems we are part of?

Set against the backdrop of a rural field at BIRCA, with a yurt-like structure in the distance, the installation feels both timeless and urgent. It invites viewers to pause and reflect on their own relationship with nature, prompting a reconsideration of the spaces we inhabit and the legacies we leave behind. The chair, once a symbol of human presence, becomes a site of transformation—a seat reclaimed by the earth, inviting us to sit, metaphorically, with the cycles of growth, decay, and renewal that define both the natural world and our own stories.

Unnatural Spaces remains installed at the BIRCA center in Denmark, a testament to Ssempijja’s ongoing

exploration of nature’s role in our lives. Supported by the Bækkelund International Residency Center for Artists, this work continues to evolve with its environment, the moss growing and changing with the seasons, embodying the very resilience it celebrates.