By Andrew Mulenga
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| Bana Chimbusa, by Poto Kabwe |
Outsiders
may be unaware that the realms of the Zambian visual arts scene are notoriously
factionalized and antagonistic, a truth that many insiders would want to
ignore.
A truth that
some allude has seen the detriment of the sectors development and characterized
hot-blooded Visual Arts Council (VAC) annual general meetings over the years. Needless
to mention the one held just recently and ushered in the Mulenga Chafilwa led
executive is considered by some Livingstone and Copperbelt province members to
be none-representative of the country’s 10 provinces.
Nevertheless, this seemingly argumentative atmosphere seems to be cast aside in The
First Annual Fundraising exhibition now showing at the Henry Tayali
Gallery in Lusaka. Clearly one of the most exciting shows the gallery has seen
in a long time, it is an absolute pantheon of the biggest names in contemporary
Zambian visual arts.
Imagine Victor
Makashi, Poto Kabwe, Patrick Mumba, William Miko, Style Kunda, Lutanda Mwamba,
Lawrence Yombwe and the late Shadreck Simukanga in the same place to name more
than a few.
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| Sausage Tree, by Dabson Njobvu |
With this exhibition,
the sole curatorial objective is to display the art, so it does not have any
specific theme and is therefore not conversational. Every piece is unrelated. Works
contain everyday life, politics and nature but the display does provide an
intelligent and lucid group show and credit must be given to the curators.
As you enter
the gallery on your immediate right, you find Sausage Tree, a large painting by self-taught Dabson Njobvu
renowned for winning first prize in each of the 3 (and now defunct) Mobil Art Competitions. The painting
depicts an idyllic, undisturbed domestic rural scene with a meticulously
painted sausage tree laden with fruit by a river and bridge, baobab and village
in the background. In fact, the imagery of the landscape is so powerful it
obscures the young woman in the fore who drops her pot filled with water after
encountering a huge snake.
Up ahead is
a very interesting social commentary by Poto Kabwe entitled Bana Chimbusa after the older women that
educate and guide young brides before their traditional wedding nights
according to the Bemba and customs.
This scene however, depicts a modern day ‘Kitchen party’, a pre-wedding episode
that is held to help the bride stock up on brand new kitchen utensils. Of late,
these all-women parties have become fodder for popular bar talk among the men
folk because of the heavy drinking, strong language and sexually uninhibited
dance moves displayed by the not-so-young matrons of the events. Kabwe’s
painting depicts a seated young woman receiving boxes of gifts while elderly
women beat drums and dance. Almost every woman in the room has a beer bottle
and in the left corner of the painting is an untouched crate ready for
consumption.
Anyhow, somewhere
in the gallery is a mixed media painting entitled Plot 1, by Mapopa Manda an upcoming artist who was under
apprenticeship with popular painter Stary Mwaba for four years.
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| Plot 1, by Mapopa Manda |
Plot 1 is literally a portrait of President Michael Sata standing with his finger
on his lips in his trademark presidential campaign “Donchi kubeba” (Copperbelt Bemba
street slang that loosely translates ‘don’t tell them’ or ‘don’t ask don’t tell’)
fashion. Sata stands with state house in the background, and on top of the
painting is the Times of Zambia
newspaper masthead. To the left is a cutting of a Post Newspaper editorial comment from March 2012 that partially
reads:
“MICHAEL Sata and the PF promised the Zambian
people a lot in their election campaigns. They promised to change or improve a
lot of things in a very short time, in 90 days. As such, more is expected of
them. Those with more to give, more is always expected of them. It was in the
belief that PF can deliver on their promises that the Zambian people voted for
them.”
Here,
whether knowingly or not, the young artists can be commended for grappling with
an issue that is a hot topic in the townships. Many grass root citizens were so
expectant of an improved standard of living within 90 days but feel let down,
wondering whether their vote was worthwhile. The youths are still unemployed
and can no longer find solace in Utujilijili the now banned,
reasonably priced, pocket-sized liquor sachets. Worse still, they can only
access Chibuku or opaque beer that they can barely afford in the late afternoon,
as drinking places are no longer opening in the mornings for fear of the now
vigilant authorities. One would speculate that it is just the recent unifying
force of the national football team’s good performance that is keeping
turbulence at bay.
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| Masquarade II, by Milumbe Haimbe |
Of course,
Manda may have his own interpretation. He says as a political commentator his
work is part of a dialogue that is executed in format series. His subject
matter looks deeper into the conflict of interest related to societal
development as far as politics are concerned and involved.
“My art is
inspired by political current affairs, is the reason why I use newspapers in my
paintings. I feel Times of Zambia
represents political history, The Post
controversy and the Dail Mail,
everyday issues,” says Manda.
Bought
by a foreign dignitary, Manda’s Plot 1 is
one of the handful of paintings that has sold in this fundraising exhibition.
Again, it is unfortunate that a fundraiser turns out a flop and fails to serve
its purpose. But we cannot entirely blame the gallery or organisers. External factors such as
general lack of public and private support, individual tastes, reviews,
publicity and the health of the economy come into play. Speaking of which,
there is much speculation by some economists that the rebasing of the Zambian
Kwacha has fuelled inflation and therefore people are not spending much on
anything let alone art.
