Livingstone art gallery, two years down the line…

By Andrew Mulenga

Two years down the line the Livingstone Gallery, the first purpose built contemporary art space in Zambia, nestled in the country’s tourist capital appears to be subsisting albeit in a happy-go-lucky way.

Much has been said about the quality of the building itself and the hurried manner in which it was constructed, but the gallery’s manager Chansa Chishimba a locally respected multidisciplinary artist hints that all is well as he gives insights on how the space has been getting by since its opening.

Livingstone gallery manager Chansa Chishimba

“Always when you have a new born baby the family members are apprehensive and ask, will the child grow or not? but anyway slowly things have started improving. Of late we have been receiving calls for bookings from as far as the Copper belt and Europe where people will write you an e-mail in advance requesting a tour booking for a specific day,” says the 60-year-old artist well-known for a technique in which he processes traditional tree bark fiber cloths for his art work.

“On average daily visits to the gallery are quite sporadic, there are times when we have no visitor at all. Then all of a sudden we have a bus of over 60 people. So we tally, I can say we receive a minimum of 8 people a day, we record, the statistics, they are important because the National Arts Council (NAC) and the ministry of tourism want to know these things,” he explains.

The gallery's dirt track off Sichango Road lends
a Safari feel to the art space

He indicates that during this data collection the gallery identifies what type of visitors are coming through whether male, female, adult, children or foreign. Chansa says the money too is not coming as fast as he wished, but at least the gallery is able to sell one piece every two months.

“Sales are very unpredictable, you can’t tell whether you are going to sell this month or not, but since the opening in 2014 I remember the first exhibition we sold K41,070 (approx. US$ 3,700) that exhibition, we mounted a second show and sold 51,150 (approx. US$ 4,700) – on average a show lasts 3 months he says.

Since the gallery opened it has only had three themed shows with what he called fillers in between, exhibitions such as the one currently showing which is basically a mixture of work in various media by artists at different career level from all corners of the country are hung and placed randomly.

The display is usually a mixture of work in various
media by artists at different career level from all
corners of the country

“When we mounted a filler in April this year we did not sell anything, but in May we sold K11,700 this was for about five pieces (five works of art) so we hope June being a peak period for the tourists who come here for their summer holidays, we might be able to realize some sales,” he explains.

He points out that the gallery is able to remain operational because of the direct support from NAC and the Ministry of tourism through the District Cultural Office who cater for the monthly volunteer staff wages, and utilities.

“Every month we have something to pay for electricity, water that one is budgeted for, government has put it as a priority. We are not complaining I’m paid under NAC. Whoever comes to sit here NAC will find something to ‘wash their hands’ (pay wages) according to the individual if the can agree to the terms. Already Kate Naluyele and Gill Zulu as my assistants they have come with new ideas and I think things will start moving,” he says.

Abraham Banda, Chiato, Acrylic on canvas  

Naluyele is the current Visual Arts Council (VAC) national vice chairperson, who has relocated from Lusaka and Zulu runs Highlands Creative Academy while she is also the Visual Arts Development manager for Elijah International Zambia, both are working primarily as volunteers although they receive a stipend from NAC.

Meanwhile, Zulu who comes to the gallery once a week also echoed that the space is gaining ground with regards group tours.

Isaac Kalambata, Burning Desire, Acrylic on canvas

“What we really have to do is intensify our marketing strategy. We need to make the gallery an active, not passive experience. We hope to have frequent entertainment activities where creatives come for social events on a regular basis and we are trying to get the venue promoted to the broader community, for the Chinese exhibition project a shelter was built for artists to work in so we can also continue using that,” says Zulu.

The gallery is on Sichango Road, behind Livingstone Showgrounds, you cannot miss the elaborate roadside sign post which features two giraffe sculptures holding up a wooden plaque that reads “art gallery”.

Nevertheless, although there is still a lot of room for improvement with the Livingstone Gallery, one can safely say Zambia finally has the semblance of a national art gallery, but as to whether the space will take up the responsibility of challenging the aesthetic, historical, cultural and socio-political implications of art in Zambia or play the role of an elevated curio shop this is yet to be seen.

Chishimba Chansa is a sculptor, ceramist, textile designer and painter who holds diplomas from the Nkwame Nkrumah Teachers College in Kabwe and Evelyn Hone College of applied Arts and Commerce in Lusaka and the HDK School of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Also read: http://andrewmulenga.blogspot.co.za/2014/07/zambia-national-art-gallery-are-we.html

http://andrewmulenga.blogspot.co.za/2015/10/50-years-of-contemporary-zambian-art.html

Zambian artists gain ground in Barclays L’Atelier competition

By Andrew Mulenga

Participating in the prestigious Barclays L’Atelier art competition for only the second time since the South African founded awards were opened up to other African countries namely Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Egypt, Mauritius and the Seychelles; Zambian artists appear to be gaining ground and getting the much needed international exposure that is important to upcoming creatives.

A happy scary in the cornfield, 2016 charcoal 81 x 108 cm
by Nelson Musa Mwengwe, ABSA Gallery, Johannesburg

Although none of the seven Zambians made it into the final 10 to walk away with the top 5 awards that included a R260,000 cash prize and international artists residencies in Paris and New York, they did make it into the correspondingly competitive top 100 and have their work on display at the ABSA gallery in Johannesburg.

Comprising a gender balanced list, Nukwase Tembo, Kelvin Zangata, Mulenga Mulenga, Caleb Chisha, Sarah Chule, Mwamba Chikwemba and Aaron Mulenga are the artists that made it through.

All the artists exhibited exceptionally strong pieces, and it was interesting to see viewers gather around the works of the Zambians with enthusiasm as they were on display to be viewed by more than 800 onlookers during the awards gala event held on 13 July. The work by the Zambians included paintings, drawings and mixed media installations addressed universal stories that did not just reflect an image of Zambian society. Their themes addressed issues surrounding cultural identity, hope, death, childhood, employment, poverty, fashion and faith.

It must be noted that for the Zambians to even get this far was no mean achievement because they were pitted against competitors who have all had a university education in art from respected institutions across the continent who may be more adept in accompanying their displayed work with elaborately written artiststs statements, something which is often a challenge among Zambian artists due to a less developed academic art scene. The Barclays L’Atelier art competition is ran annually in conjunction with our partner, the South African National Association for the Visual Arts (SANAVA).

Upbraiding wigs and weaves

By Andrew Mulenga

There seems to be something happening among a handful of artists on the Zambian art scene. An all-female, revolution-like conscious movement albeit one without a transcribed manifesto. Working separately two young artists have taken it upon themselves to defend their femininity by questioning what they observe as force-fed, western standards of beauty.

Status Quo, 2016, collage by Nukwase Tembo

Through their work, Nukwase Tembo and Mulenga Mulenga, 28 and 29 years-old respectively are championing an interrogation of generally accepted notions of attractiveness, a campaign that they hope will remind Zambian, and by extension, African women to regain confidence in their unsullied beauty. A beauty they believe, whose aesthetic has been hijacked as it is now dictated by the modelling industry and mass media.

Both Lusaka-based artists recently had their work selected for the finals of the 2016 Barclays L'Atelier, one of Africa’s most prestigious art competitions that targets visual artists aged 21 to 35. It is Tembo’s piece entitled Status Quo that got her nominated, whereas Mulenga had a double entry with her works entitled Self-portrait and Possessed by disguise respectively.

“My work is addressing the status quo that the majority of black women follow in order for us to fit into the standards of beauty that have been set for us. We have been taught to disregard many things that make us who we are -- beautiful black women -- and have instead taken up the Eurocentric idea of what beauty should be. I feel that this has contributed to the escalating amount of self-hate that is being practiced by the black race,” explains Tembo. 

The focal point of her piece is a slender catwalk model strutting on stage in front of an audience, but what is peculiar about her is the fact that while she is black, she appears to have removed her head, carrying it in one hand replacing it with a sniggering white one, the audience too – individually cut characters from magazines – also appears all white.

Tembo’s image subtly camouflages several issues, on the one hand it can be read as a critique of the international fashion and modelling industries along with their consumers and audiences that often demand certain skin, body, and racial types and on the other hand it can also be interpreted as a parody of predominantly Eurocentric social behaviours that have steadily been globalized through mass media.

Just like Tembo, Mulenga argues that her current body of work questions and investigates female identity and heritage in post-colonial Zambia while exploring her personal interactions with social aesthetics. Her work Possessed by disguise addresses similar issues as that of Tembo’s. It is a mixed media painting that depicts a masked figure as its main focal point and the character has actual hair extensions meticulously woven into the canvas. With this work Mulenga alludes to notions of lost identity and a devotion to superficial beauty.    

     

Possessed by disguise, 2016 mixed media by Mulenga Mulenga

“The worst form of deception is that of self, black women should reclaim their identity. This work portrays masks and wigs as metaphors for the deception of cultural identity. Black hair is camouflaged in the Zambian society today,” argues Mulenga. “By trying to fit in with mainstream western society, three quarters of (Zambian) women are covered in hair extensions. We have become shadows of a forgotten culture without valuing our rich history of hair grooming”

She says she draws inspiration from her personal experience as an African woman with natural hair, living in a society which castigates its own identity and is influenced by predominantly Euro-Americans and Asian standards of beauty. 

“I’m questioning what makes us black women forgo nurturing our hair to build an archive of identity and yet go on exposing ourselves to synthetic and western styled hair.  How can I wear my black curly hair and be accepted as a modern and informed woman without being entangled by wigs? What happened to narratives of black hair nurturing and patterns,” she explains.

Her painting entitled Self Portrait directly addresses these observations. It features a young lady with a 1970s style afro with a comb sticking out of it, the hair is in fact real human hair collected by the artist, hanging from the subject’s hand are, synthetic hair extensions. The piece continues the conversation that encourages the rejection of synthetic and human hair extensions, the woman in the painting can be regarded as someone discarding these wigs opting for her own natural hair. Mulenga clearly thought outside the box on this work and shares its production process.

Self portrait, 2016 mixed media by Mulenga Mulenga

“I talked to the owner of a hair salon to keep the hair that they cut from the women who visit; the process began in August 2015. To me the material (black hair) is playing an important role, I ask what it means to be carriers of this hair. I am interested in the history that it holds. My research on this topic is still going on, this work is just the beginning of many more to come,” explains Mulenga.

Mulenga and Tembo both raise very interesting arguments as they question generally accepted standards of beauty among African women and in broader terms question the issue of cultural hegemony, the philosophical concept that argues that a culture, with an authoritarian standing, can exert disproportionate influence manipulating how other cultures ought to behave, what they are supposed to consume, what they are supposed to believe, how they are supposed to run their economies and how they are supposed to govern themselves.

Both skin bleaching and hair modification remains popular among African women, who may not fully be aware that they support a multi-million dollar industry. In fact in 2015a popular Afrocentric beauty magazine Madam Noir reported that Africa was the prime market for Indian hair and was estimated to be worth $6 billion a year and rising. However, as much as the blame of influence with regards the straight hair look is heaped on Euro-America, much of the human hair supplied as extensions does not come from Europe or the United States. Perhaps the ever popular Brazilian and Indian soap operas that are household names in Zambia may have a role in the influence to a certain degree.

A brief visit around Lusaka’s Northmead market, one of the Zambian capitals most popular beauty bazaars featuring dozens of small hair salons will reveal that Peruvian, Brazilian and Indian hair are the most prized hair extensions. A 12 inch ball of 100% Indian Virgin Remy hair for instance can cost up to K1, 500 (one thousand five hundred kwacha) and depending on the hairstyle, trendy Lusaka ladies are known to splurge on up to three balls per head, which can amount to K4, 500 (four thousand five hundred kwacha), just over US$ 400 and way over the Zambian general workers’ (category one) minimum wage for receptionists and clerks which is about K1, 100 (one thousand one hundred). 

Notwithstanding, many within this workers category are known to don these expensive wigs which also raises concerns as to whether there is now a culture in Zambia that encourages ladies to live beyond their means in order to either keep up appearances, boost self-esteem or indeed look attractive to the opposite sex. Nevertheless the issue of why ladies prefer to wear hair that once belonged to someone else without batting an eyelid over whom the hair was extracted from is perhaps a debate for the hair salons and one that must perhaps be avoided a male writer commenting from a comfortable point of ignorance.  

All the same it would be exciting if Tembo and Mulenga could perhaps collaborate and work on a full scale exhibition with more works that argue their worthy cause.