James Aguer Garang

James Aguer Garang

James Aguer Garang is a painter and illustrator. He was born in 1978 in Twic East, Jonglei State. He was displaced by the second civil war first to Ethiopia in 1987 with young boys and girls known as "Red Army" (the Lost Boys and Girls of Sudan) and later to the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya in 1992.At Kakuma Camp, James began training himself in the arts and crafts, and became art teacher in the camp between 1997 – 2003. In 2008 to 2010, James joined the Buruburu Institute of Fine Art in Nairobi, Kenya. He is now an accomplished painter, following in the tradition of his father, who was a craftsman working with wood and cow horn. James has participated in art exhibitions locally and internationally. In 2012, he was selected (with two other artists) to go to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to produce three paintings for African Union’s new building. In 2018, he travelled with two female artist to The Hague-Netherlands to create murals for the Save the Children’s headquarters. He has illustrated training toolkits for Trauma Healing (Global Trauma Project), Morning Star and UNDP Justice and Rules of Law. James has a company, ACT Innovation (Arts, Culture and Technology) and is committed to using art to convey social messages in South Sudan. He is currently Art and Crafts Tutor, and a Community Trauma Healing Facilitator at the Community Learning Centre, Juba with Whitaker Peace and Development Initiative. James facilitated the Story Circles on Dinka Bor historical songs, songs, women’s cattle camp arts and the songs and dances of a Dinka Bor youth cultural group.