Mindscapes: Kiggundu Rodney Bridges Art and Brain Health in Debut Solo Exhibition
On Thursday, July 10, Kiggundu Rodney, a Ugandan visual artist and an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at UCSF’s Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI), hosted guests at the Memory and Aging Center’s Gallery 190 for his debut solo exhibition opening reception.
The show titled MindScapes explores the intertwined forces of love, time, and memory, drawing inspiration from poetry, everyday objects, and the brain’s inner workings. The exhibition blurs the fine line between the mundane and the metaphysical, inviting viewers to reflect on how the mind shapes, preserves, and elevates human experience.
The opening reception kicked off at 4:30 p.m. with opening remarks from Sara Wessen Chang, the Gallery 190 coordinator, who introduced Dr. Charles Windon, an assistant professor of clinical neurology at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, Rodney’s mentor and GBHI faculty member.
Dr. Windon complimented Rodney’s enthusiasm and commitment during his one-year stay at UCSF, where he applied his art skills to community outreach programs through creative interventions, brain health education, and dementia prevention and awareness.
“It’s been such an honor working with Rodney this year. I must say he might not know this, but he has inspired me more than I might have inspired him. This body of work highlights his commitment to his work,” Dr. Windon stated.
The show features Rodney’s work created during his fellowship at GBHI in San Francisco. One of the standout pieces of art at the show is the “Memories Unleashed” original album artwork created in collaboration with Eric Myricks (stage name Elijah Rock), a renowned American jazz musician who put together a 10-song Memories Unleashed – Impulse 1 Album aimed at raising awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementias.
The album highlights the power of music in unleashing memories that remind and define us. This artwork, together with Elijah’s song album, was displayed at New York’s popular Times Square.
“I like how you paint the brain and not make it look scary, but rather a metaphor of reflection,” one guest noted.
Rodney’s approach in this show synthesizes fine art with literary references/prompts and a psychological sensitivity that transforms everyday materials into portals of introspection. His works don’t just depict thought, they embody it, with compositions that feel both grounded and ephemeral.
The result is a body of work that does not merely ask viewers to look, but to remember. To feel. To stand still long enough for the internal world to come into focus.
"I’m fascinated by how the mind stores emotion in fragments, and I like to use the brain, shapes, patterns as metaphors for these messages,” Rodney states.
The guests at the opening reception included family, friends, colleagues from the Memory and Aging Center, Atlantic Fellows for Equity in Brain Health at UCSF, staff and faculty of GBHI, and various guests such as artists, muralists, and friends from the Bay Area.
“It was interesting to hear amazing experiences and personal interpretations of the different works in the show, some quite similar to mine and most totally different from mine, which was interesting for me to hear,” says Rodney.
Rodney continues to share his fascinations about the brain and learning about dementia and all other neurodegenerative conditions from his fellowship program at UCSF’s Global Brain Health Institute within the Memory and Aging Center. He continues to invite people to check out the show and experience this body of work.
The show is on display at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, 675 Nelson Rising Lane, Suite 190, San Francisco, California, until Friday, August 22, 2025. Open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Feel free to stop in or reach out for a guided tour.
