By
Andrew Mulenga
Ten
years to the day, Adrian Ngoma and Oliver Sakanyi return to the Henry Tayali
Gallery in Lusaka for a collaboration. A decade ago, the duo exhibited
alongside a group of friends in perhaps the last in a series of shows entitle Artists across the Zambezi.
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| Sleeping Beauty by Adrian Ngoma |
While
working as expatriate school teachers in Botswana, they would gather works by local
(Tswana) and international colleagues, ferry them across the Zambezi into
Zambia and exhibit them at the Henry Tayali Gallery in the Lusaka showgrounds.
Held annually, these shows used to include a colourfully diverse range of
artists such as Obed Mokhulani of Botswana, Indian-born Anita Bhattacharya and
Krishna Kaberi, Kwesi Bovell of Guyana as well as fellow Zambians, Emmanuel
Muntanga, Malumo Sibuku and Francis Mwanag’ombe.
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| Happy Children by Oliver Sakanyi |
Nevertheless,
their Botswana days are over and Ngoma and Sakanyi’s two-man show entitled Eclectic that is scheduled to feature Tourism
and Arts Minister Jean Kapata as guest of honour, opens on Friday 21 August and
is expected to run until 4 September.
According
to the exhibition statement the artists: “wish to express images of their life experiences
and share their visual memories with you in different styles as the theme
suggests”. Between the two of them, the artists will have about 40 past and
recent works on display, however, Ngoma is likely to have fewer pieces in the
show due to his preference for diptychs (double-panel paintings) and large
format canvases. Although the exhibition statement indicates that the artists
will be showcasing images from life experience, themes concerning African masks
and musical instruments should be expected in Ngoma’s work as can be seen in the
Cultural iconology series of paintings.
There is no telling, however, if some visuals from the anti-poaching paintings
he produced last year will creep in. He was recently commissioned by the World
Wildlife Fund (WWF) for its International Wildlife Trade Campaign, an on-going,
one year sensitization project aimed at combating poaching and the illegal
trade in wildlife commodities.
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| Cultural Iconology by Adrian Ngoma |
From
Sakanyi, viewers should expect small crowd scenes of women and children among
other things. Works such as Happy
Children that depicts youngsters engaged in song and dance may be a direct
reference to his daily life as he is an Art and Music Teacher at Trident Prep
and Sentinel School, Solwezi. An avid acoustic guitarist, he has also been
involved in several musical performances and recordings, some of them involving
his learners. Before taking up his Solwezi posting, he taught IGCSE Art and
Design at Lusaka International Community School (LICS). Like Ngoma, Sakanyi
holds an Art Teacher’s Diploma from Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and
Commerce except he recently graduated from Zambian Open University with a BA in
fine art.
Sakanyi
and Ngoma have both worked with the Visual Art Council (VAC) in the capacities
of National Secretary and National Treasurer, respectively.
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| Women on the move by Oliver Sakanyi |
Meanwhile,
in case you missed the opening, or you have not yet been to see Prescription: Nature an exhibition of
wildlife paintings by Katerina Ring and Lyn Taylor, it is still on display at
Zebra Crossing Café, that cosy little restaurant along Lusaka’s Addis Ababa
Drive and if by some miraculous reason you find yourself in the atrium of the American
Embassy in Lusaka after the 20 August you stand a chance of enjoying
some select works from The Lechwe Trust Collection of Contemporary Zambian Art
that will be on temporary display there. While the comprehensive collection
itself comprises close to 300 paintings, prints, ceramics and sculptures by
Zambian greats like Akwila Simpasa, Martin Phiri, Godfrey Setti, Shadreck
Simukanga, Friday Tembo and Henry Tayali, surely just a handful will be nominated
for the display.
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