Ismail has been exhibiting since 2002, and participated in the East Africa Art Biennale, in 2005 and 2007. He was born in 1982 in Mbarara, Western Uganda.
Ismail has completed an industrial and fine arts degree at Makerere University, Kampala, and is considered an up and coming artist to watch. He was featured in an exhibition of Ugandan artists in Denmark in 2007.