East Africa’s creative renaissance is rooted in rich traditions yet boldly futuristic – and fuelled by talents who are redefining how African stories are told and consumed both locally and globally. At the forefront of this movement stands Mwami, whose fearless blending of artforms and genres embodies the spirit of a new generation. In English, ‘Mwami’ means ‘king’ or ‘traditional ruler’, a title that carries mythological weight. It is a fitting name for this Kampala-based artist whose work is built on expansive worldbuilding across music, film and graphic novels, all bound together by a restless imagination.

Growing up in a household where art was ever-present, Mwami absorbed a wide range of influences: his father’s career in broadcast meant there was always music in the house. His mother favoured 90s classics while his older sibling immersed him in hip hop culture. At high school he swapped songs with friends over mp3 players, a ritual that marked his entry into the alternative music scene. “I’m a product of some bright minds,” he reflects. “Collaborators who I believe are the best at what they do, or family and lifelong friends whose taste and sensibilities widened mine in ways that made my style and approach what it is.”

Mwami’s latest project, the ‘Olympean Collection’, is three short films directed by Chebeni, mbaalamwezi, Tysevisual and himself, soundtracked by music from his debut album ‘Olympean’. The trilogy draws from characters first introduced in ‘The Protean Collection’, a paperback zine that doubled as a graphic novel commemorating Mwami’s debut EP. Where ‘Protean’ laid the groundwork with whimsical illustrations and bedtime-story nostalgia, ‘Olympean’ expands the universe: its songs weave through a raw, poetic, nonlinear narrative that deepens themes of love, loss, longing and escape.

Set in an untamed, otherworldly wilderness, the trilogy follows two young runaways who elope into the forest to live in a state of make-believe. Their story isn’t told in obvious ways, but filtered through Mwami’s own questions: “What would it be like to run away with someone and be suspended in that childlike wonder? To never age but to grow tired of it? To have it engulf you? To leave such a place and try to return to a home that might have moved on without you?”

One of the most striking features of the films is the vivid aesthetic – the verdant meadows and undulating hills recall European countryside, yet they were shot intentionally between Kenya and Uganda as a way of recontextualising East African landscapes. Mwami’s aim was to challenge stereotypes and create a richer, more experimental visual language. “We have just as immersive and varied in its landscape as anywhere else,” he explains. “It’s gratifying when the locations can’t be easily pinned to place, but even more so when the little, less obvious details are identified as distinctively East African.” The trilogy then culminates in a narrative voiceover delivered in Mwami’s mother’s tongue – a gesture that grounds the surreal in something deeply personal, intimate and ancestral.

The influences on ‘Olympean’ stretch widely, from Nollywood classics to Djibril Diop Mambéty, from Ingmar Bergman to Andrei Tarkovsky, from Wong Kar-wai to Hayao Miyazaki. Musically, the project also folds in both local and international textures. For instance, ‘Danser’ nods to Sam Fan Thomas’ ‘African Typic Collection’, an influence Mwami credits to his mother. “She put me on to that song and I’ve always wanted to build on an African classic. With the theme being dance music, it felt fitting.” Meanwhile, ‘Emeralda’ featuring Nyokabi Kariũki and Akeine, bears the imprint of Polish DJ and producer @ys, whose role in the project was pivotal. “@ys is family. Beyond co-executive producing, he mixed and mastered the project, pushing its scope with his experimental sensibilities. He and Jay James were vital in refining the songs. These are some of my closest friends, and creating with them is as memorable as the work itself.”

Pulling the project together also meant working with a range of directors, each of whom brought distinct strengths. “This was my first visual project, and each director’s unique style pushed the ideas further than I could’ve managed alone. Chebeni brought patience and a meticulous eye, Mbaalamwezi grounded the work in research and striking imagery, while Thomas Seward injected provocation and urgency. Each director brought something different, turning bare-bones conditions into something far richer.” Asked how he and his team hope ‘Olympean’ will shape conversations around African music and film, Mwami is modest: “My part is to contribute to the conversation. What happens from there isn’t in my control. If I had to answer, I guess I intend to undo any notion that we are a monolith.”

Future projects may or may not expand the “Mwami universe,” but collaborative ventures such as EA OPEN with Tai Dai and Agent Mgumbe, or BUGO$ BOYS with Kalibwani, Maui Moon and Agent Mgumbe again have been equally crucial in situating him within a larger ecosystem of compelling East African voices. “I’m keen to take on shapes and forms that diverge from where we are,” he says. Still, as a Ugandan artist, Mwami acknowledges the responsibility to push boundaries. “Yessirski,” he grins. And when audiences in Lagos, London, or Los Angeles encounter ‘Olympean’, he hopes they leave with only one thought: “We need to go to East Africa.”

In many ways, ‘Olympean’ reads like a modern fairy-tale. What makes it distinct, however, is its grounding in freemaps: the borderless spaces of the internet and digital platforms that give artists like Mwami the liberty to chart their own paths without waiting for gatekeepers. Here, a bedroom in Nairobi can be a global stage, a studio in Gayaza can transmit soundscapes that ripple across oceans. Creatives like Mwami thrive in this openness, turning personal visions into shared cultural throughways that others can journey upon. And as their work circulates beyond East Africa, it widens the conversation – forcing global audiences to confront, engage with, and celebrate narratives that might once have been overlooked. This interplay between myth and technology, intimacy and reach, is what defines the new creative frontier.