Ng’andwe probes contaminated culture in debut solo

By Andrew Mulenga

Scheduled for 17:00hrs on Thursday 7 July, the Red Dot Gallery at the Ababa House off Addis Ababa Drive in Lusaka is set to host Ng’andwe Mwaba’s debut solo.

The Ngoma Awards Best Upcoming Artist 2009 is likely to catch his collectors and followers’ off-guard with new techniques and a return to painting with an all new palette.  

Norms of a stolen culture, 2014 (oil on canvas)
by Ng'andwe Mwaba

Having abandoned oil on canvas for the greater part of his eight year career amidst continued gossip that he has no style of his own and constantly imitates famous older brother and mentor Stary, the 31-year-old took to monochromatic figure drawings in pen and ink, concentrating on the money spinning aspect of portraiture.

Gallery-goers should expect to see a few colourful oils on canvas with complex metaphorical references that suggest a sense of maturity in the artist, hinting towards deep thinking. A good example would be the piece Norms of A Stolen Culture.

“The woman I consider to be modern, but African. She is leaning on a calabash with water that has been spilled, but you can see there is some of it remaining. The spillage represents hope, there is still hope but all she sees is what has been spilt,” explained Ng’andwe in an interview early this week.

Citing the “Brazilian Hair” extensions popular among trendy African women, he suggests Africans are lost and their culture is so contaminated it is almost impossible to separate what is truly indiginous and what is borrowed from the west.

A Trench of Ambitions, 2014 (mixed media)
by Ng'andwe Mwaba

“When water spills on sand or soil it creates mud and it is very difficult to separate the two. Just like our culture, it is contaminated so you can see the woman is looking at what has been spilled and she is playing with the mud but cannot see the little water remaining in the calabash,” he added.

He thinks it was a shame that nowadays customs such as initiation ceremonies and traditional marriage counselling were taught on the basis of commercial consultation. Previously the duty of elderly aunts or uncles, coaches like the Bemba  Bana Chimbusa who tutor brides and Bashi Bukombe who instruct grooms have turned matrimonial guidance into a very lucrative trade.

Nevertheless, according to Ng’andwe the journey to the completion of the exhibition has been a search of his inner self and that he had been living in isolation, in a tent within the Lusaka show grounds for three months in preparation for the event.

The energy for the show however, emanated from the Insaka International Artists Workshop that he attended in Livingstone last year, an event he described as a stepping stone to freedom.

“Before I went there (Insaka) I was confined, I had a one track mind mostly because of commercial purposes, I knew I could always sell a portrait and make some money. But in Livingstone we were in the bush and we deliberately had no resources just to test our creativity I made a lot of experiments, it was an initiation into freedom,” said Ng’andwe.

The artist will be showcasing a minimum of 20 works of various sizes and promises there will be something for everyone’s budget, the show is expected to run for two weeks.

Meanwhile, the Visual Arts Council of Zambia (VAC) is showing recent works by various Zambian artists at the Henry Tayali Gallery in the Lusaka show grounds throughout the period of the ongoing Agriculture and Commercial Show.

Finding God in the Arts

By Andrew Mulenga

The ambience of delicately harmonized traditional Christian hymns, in soft angelic voices and played back in an enchantingly eerie 175-year-old church building, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church that resembles a gothic castle provided moments of sanctuary for party animals during South Africa’s Just ended National Arts Festival (NAF), annually held in Grahamstown.

Official figures released by Festival CEO Tony Lankester last week show that: “Street parades, a birthday celebration, a dazzling array of international performers from over 40 countries, and over 2800 performances in eleven days all contributed to a record 225 538 attendees”. 

It must be noted that the announced figures for attendees is about four times that of the normally sleepy little backwoods town’s population whose 2011 census counted 67,000 inhabitants, hard to comprehend of course, but you can imagine the hustle and bustle of thrill seeking revellers between dance, drama and music shows.

Joseph Capelle's Stations of The Cross on display

in St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Grahamstown,

South Africa during the National Arts Festival

Nevertheless, providing sanctuary to these pilgrims the St. Patrick’s venue was part of SpiritFest a spiritual component of NAF dubbed “A celebration of the arts in the context of Christian Faith”. The space offered guided, daily meditations entitled Finding God in the Arts with a trained director organised by the Jesuit Institute of South Africa but open to all faiths and walks of life, reminiscent of the Church’s claim that its congregation had always been all inclusive even during the apartheid era.

But what was probably most fascinating in this space was the backdrop, spellbinding paintings by South African artist Joseph Capelle placed right in front of the news on the area that serves as the alter during mass. Usually the preserve of the priest, altar boys and select members of the laity according to catholic hierarchy, visitors had free access to the area and could walk around and enjoy up close contact with the paintings.

Christened a Modern Expression of An Ancient Devotion the display was brought in from the Church of the Holy Trinity, Braamfontein in Johannesburg where they were commissioned by the Jesuit parish priest Fr Russell Pollitt who is now the Director of the Jesuit Institute South Africa.

The 2012 paintings are a contemporary rendition of the 14 events in the last hours of Jesus Christ, commonly known as “the Passion”, depicting his suffering, death and resurrection according to the gospels; they celebrate the core belief of the Christian faith which one might observe is easy to overlook in the hyperactive times we live in today where from the look of things contemporary faith – if there was ever such a term -- seems to focus on physical prosperity rather than spiritual salvation, ignoring Christ’s sacrifice for believers’ sins.

Capelle cleverly references icons, the paintings of the early Christian church that had been used not only to decorate buildings but also to spread the gospel over the centuries. He complements the work with his own short reflections, narrated by Nosiphiwo Mpungose available on an accompanying CD-ROM that further attempts to make the theme relevant to present times. The reflection for the 12^th station of the cross that meditates on the death of Jesus for instance would be a typical example here.

Jesus dies on the cross,
2012 by Joseph Capelle

“Jesus dies on the cross, Jesus dies on the cross, and dying in love for all those who are persecuted or victimised in any way, Jesus dies for all. Nobody is excluded he hangs from the cross, looking down on a family escaping from a burning shack, a violent scene that is so common in South Africa because of the lack of electricity and the dangers that some people live with daily or because of a xenophobic attack,” narrates Mpungose in a soft gentle voice “The father leads his family out of danger the mother's hair falls into a cloak enfolding the child in her protection and love. It is the child who cries out in fear and whose prayer takes the form of a leaping flame flying up towards the dying Jesus. Jesus willingly looks towards the pain and destruction, the family looks away. So often we find it hard to accept the violence and destruction for which we are responsible.”

In the paintings the artist also attempts to blur the margins between race and culture which in turn results in an artistic enculturation of the gospel, making it a witness of the incarnation of God’s word into a metropolitan culture, this is partially explained in the artist’s statement.

“The paintings are universal in their depiction of humanity, but are influenced by the African context which is subtly suggested in a number of ways, most especially in the patterns on the cloth of the garments. However, the paintings also aim at inclusivity -- implicit in Jesus’ teachings – and the whole world’s face can be detected, including that of the Jewish women of Jesus own culture. The message of the stations is not constrained by colour, race or culture,” it reads in part.

In contrast to the predominantly grave theme the artist’s palette is a kaleidoscopic outburst, full of life and energy that seemingly compliments the notion of Christ’s resurrection.

In any case, if the work did not succeed in helping one find or at least remember the core principal of Christianity it certainly did serve as a reminder of the origins of art as we know it today. It can be argued that modern art – not in a theoretical sense -- is a spinoff from the practice of the old masters of the European renaissance, from as early as Giotto and Botticelli through to Da Vinci and Michelangelo, artists who regardless of their personal beliefs dedicated a greater part of their careers decorating churches with sculptures and paintings of biblical scenes.

Capelle’s work is also a refreshing reminder of by-gone eras when artists played the sacred role of mediator between God and man, providing believers with images that were revered, only to be found in churches and in the palaces of nobility, during times when it was obviously unimaginable that in the future people will be able to carry them around in their pockets on mobile devices. 

The CD-ROM that was on sale during the exhibition came complete with apps for smartphones, tablets and computers so that viewers can carry the paintings, meditations and music by the University of Johanesburg Choir home with them after the festival.

Besides Capelle’s work Spiritfest also featured 40 Stones in the Wall a faith based initiative by various artists and Ageless Madonna: the transfiguration of Mary of Nazareth by Julia Skeens as part of the visual arts component. The programme’s main activities also included drama and music at various venues with interdenominational choirs, bands and singers from across South Africa.

Several anniversaries met at the confluence of this year’s NAF, the festival itself turned 40, and the Standard bank Young artists Award turned 30 while the nation celebrated 20 years of independence.

It must be noted however that even as South Africa celebrates 20 years of democracy and the fall of apartheid, the reprehensible legacy of racial segregation is still evident. Arguably, Grahamstown may just be a microcosm of the bigger picture. Although there is apparent harmony of class, culture and race during festival times, the small town is rank with unemployment and a few strolls around the central business district reveals a good number of beggars, some who also serve as unofficial car-minders.

When festival is off, the majority of township dwellers from Grahamstown East, the black area of the city only come into town on pay day, as for their white neighbours uptown, they have no business going into the township. They have no markings, but the margins are clear even in all their inconspicuousness. For instance white folks do their shopping from the Pepper Grove Mall where as the blacks do theirs from Market Square Mall.

Unfortunately this underlying feeling of segregation could also be sensed in certain pubs and eateries, many of which are only set up during festival period.

In the author’s experience, identity remains a serious issue in South Africa, when you walk into an establishment expect to be served according to how you are dressed, what language you speak and above all, the colour of your skin, regardless of how much is in your pocket or how big a tipper you are. A demoralizing fact that defeats the whole purpose of the arts.

Zambia National Art Gallery: are we there yet?

By Andrew Mulenga

The promise of a national art gallery has long eluded Zambia, so as the first phase of the Livingstone Art Gallery comes to completion, these are definitely exciting times for the visual arts.

The state sponsored structure situated in the former Livingstone show grounds has been under construction for quite a lengthy period owing mostly to a lack of resources and oscillating levels of commitment from different governments of the day. 

It was almost completed a few days before the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) general assembly last year, perhaps to showcase it as one of Livingstone’s main attractions when Zambia and Zimbabwe co-hosted the international tourism indaba.

However, not even hurried construction works could allow the building to be finished on time and an exhibition that was scheduled for the venue was instead moved to the Livingstone National Museum.

Once again it appears the construction works are in full throttle to meet a new deadline, this time ahead of the country’s 50^th Independence Day celebrations. No doubt a befitting time to launch a gallery of this importance which as earlier alluded will be the nation’s first, seeing the Henry Tayali Gallery ran by the Zambia National Visual Arts Council (VAC) in Lusaka is in a rented space.

Members of VAC Livingstone tour the site

The arts mother body National Arts Council (NAC) is expected to officially handover the building and running of the facility over to the VAC Livingstone at an opening ceremony on a date yet to be announced but possibly in October. While the members of VAC Livingstone are a thoroughly enthusiastic group of individuals who pour themselves into their artistic work, most do not simply have the capacity to run a national gallery, well at least not now.

During their tour of the facility early this year -- of which the author was privileged to take part -- the group was still not sure on how they are going to run the facility once it is handed over to them. There were suggestions of turning a large part of it into a commercial restaurant in the prospect of bringing traffic to the gallery others proposed a curio shop or craft market.

But reflecting on their suggestions one is tempted to wrestle with a few questions. Who will be running the daily affairs of the gallery? What will be the main activities – apart from the restaurant? Will it house a permanent collection organised in the manner of African Art, Modern Painting and Sculpture, Historical Painting and Sculpture and Contemporary Art? Will it be exhibiting some foreign shows that are perhaps on world tour? Will there be efforts to link it to other galleries on the continent and beyond? Has NAC provided adequate training for VAC members on how a gallery is managed? Zambians are generally not a gallery-going people, what are there any strategies in place to attract them into this new space? 

Zambia’s first national art gallery will require a full time team as much as the would be custodians are dedicated to run it in their own way, a good number of its members have full time jobs that are equally taxing in the fields of education and museums while they also put in personal time to practice their art making.

In any case, there is no telling what NAC has in store for the opening, one hopes it will be given the grandness it deserves. This is no small thing, for five decades there has been a cry for a gallery so now that Zambia is finally getting one let us just hope the organisers do not make a circus of it, as they did with the shambolic UNWTO exhibition at the Livingstone Museum.

If it is to be opened with an exhibition, the invitation checklist should be as high profile as possible. NAC must get the president to cut the ribbon and unveil a plaque with his name on it, all the senior government officials and ambassadors too must be invited as this is the only sure chance of getting the event onto all the television and radio stations as well as the front pages of the newspapers. Noise has to be made.

NAC should ask itself what it is they want to launch, a gallery of international stature befitting the tourist capital and Zambia’s 50^th birthday or a joke. This should also be done bearing in mind that it is easy to have a high profile, government-type launch with all the bells and whistles, but it would be unfortunate for them to hop on to their Sports Utility Vehicles and head back to the capital and leave VAC Livingstone with teething problems that they may not be able to handle. 

Again if there are to launch it with an exhibition it should be all inclusive, featuring artists from across the country as well as historic works, some of which can be brought out of their storage from the safety of museum vaults in Livingstone as well as Lusaka. If historic works cannot be shown on Zambia’s jubilee when will they be shown? But being the treasures that such works are there is not telling how safe they would be hanging in the new gallery which may not have standard security features if details such as the chicken-run-type roofline are anything to go by.

Returning to the running of the gallery, a good model to follow would be that of Zimbabwe, just next door, the sister nation to which Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland lost the opportunity to house the gallery which was eventually built in Salisbury.

Today called the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, it: “is a state owned non-profit making organization that was established by an Act of Parliament in 1953 and falls under the Ministry of Education, Sports, Art and Culture, to promote and preserve visual art in the country through continuous acquisition and conservation of artworks in the permanent collection and other various activities”.

The gallery has a full-time director as well as curator. The curator oversees the gallery exhibitions while the director is a link between the ministry and the Board of Trustees that also includes the mayor of Harare and if they have been running like this for 55 years, they must be doing something right which has seen the opening of two regional branches The National Gallery in Bulawayo and he National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Mutare just 15 years ago. 

South Africa too has a flagship institution, the South African National Gallery in central Cape Town under the umbrella of Iziko Museums, an agency of the Department of Arts and Culture but this is complemented by regional galleries - the Durban Art Gallery in KwaZulu-Natal, the Johannesburg Art Gallery in Gauteng, the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum formerly the King George VI Gallery in Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape which all showcase collections of indigenous, historical and contemporary works from the respective provinces.

Zambia can learn a great deal from both the Zimbabwean and South African models but perhaps there are already plans on how this is going to be done in the interim before the much awaited Arts, Cultural and Heritage Commission is set up through the Arts, Cultural and Heritage Bill.

In his June newsletter, Ackson Tembo, a Chingola-based theatre personality and arts activist, eager as many to hear what the status quo is reminds us that: “July 2014, marks the twenty second month after the announcement that an Arts, Cultural and Heritage Commission was going to be set up through the Arts, Cultural and Heritage Bill.  Can someone please update us on this matter?”

Tembo has every reason to be worried because the new minister of Tourism and Arts has yet to say anything about the bill or the arts in general, as speculated in a recent edition of Hole In The Wall the bill may be officially dead.

The setting up of the bill was announced by the Republican President Michael Sata in a policy statement during his address in Parliament on 28th September 2012.

The intention of the Bill is to harmonise all sectors of arts and culture to operate under one body encompassing theatre, digital art, reading, dance, music, literature, and crafts as well as “art collections that will reinforce the identity of the country and national pride through culture.”