By Andrew Mulenga
*This article is an abridged version of the text for the exhibition catalogue Donation written by Andrew Mulenga; look out for a follow-up article that features remarks from ambassador Ofstad, Cynthia Zukas, William Miko and a Zambian artist based in Norway.
In case you have not
yet seen it, ‘Donation’ the on-going exhibition at the Lusaka National Museum
that honours the outgoing Norwegian embassy in Lusaka’s donation of art to the
Lechwe Trust a charitable organization for the visual arts in Zambia committed
to reining in outstanding works against sale abroad is still showing for the
next few days.
For a major collection
of art that has been accumulated for just over a 20 year period, 40 individual pieces
does seem small, more so if these works belong to a foreign embassy that has
been one of the biggest supporters of the visual arts in Zambia, having played
an active role through funding artists workshops, exhibitions and scholarships by
way of its bilateral agencies.
Togetherness, 1982, white and grey marble 113 x 34 x 24 cm by Robert Nyirenda |
But it can be
understood that a single building – which is not a gallery or museum – can only
have so many works on permanent display. Undeniably, during their stay the
Norwegians accumulated more than five times the volume of work in the
collection, seeing to a large extent ,works by Zambian artists may have found
themselves in the personal collections of diplomats that have rotated at the
embassy over the years and have understandably wound up in Norway or other
parts of the world which is why it may be seen as a plus that work by some of
the country’s most influential artists of the past few decades will not leave
the country but should stay here in the provisionally safe custody of the
Lechwe Trust.
While there is a
generally held perception that contemporary Zambian art is essentially
figurative and characterized by quixotic representations of everyday life, a
genre that has over the years become the Zambian signature in fulfilment of the
preferences of foreign collectors, particularly those from the greater diplomatic
community such as the Norwegians themselves, the collection is a strange mix of
sentimental rural scenes and radical abstract deconstructions that bare complex
philosophical underpinnings when it comes to the two dimensional work. But with
regards the three dimensional work, vis-à-vis the sculptures and ceramics, all of
them have a radically abstract impulse even though they were created by artists
with an incredible aptitude for fully representational work. For instance,
Flinto Chandia’s sculpture Here I am
is a combination of two curvilinear marble splinters and an orb, or his Mother and child (1999) which includes two
elliptical shapes that represent the heads and a single, ivory-coloured main
section that represents the bodies and evokes the appearance of two snuggling
figures. Another set of equally powerful sculptures is a sophisticated wooden piece
by Friday Tembo (1962 – 2004) entitled They
love each other, but they are shy (1998). Tembo was the founder of Ulendo
art studio, a sculpture workshop in
Lusaka’s Linda Township, a high density
slum. He taught his many students how to work hard woods such as ebony, mubanga
and mukwa that was preferably used as supports for pit latrines because of its
non-corrosive qualities, when the residents of Linda began the transformation
of their sewer systems to septic tanks; they did away with the old wood
preferring brick and concrete. Tembo and his band of apprentices would then harvest
this discarded wood for use at the studio. Two of his students John Miti and
Jesat Mbewe also have works Africa World
Cup (2009) and Zilile Ng’oma
(2005) respectively in the Norwegian collection. The sculptures also feature a
series of abstract marble carvings by David Chirwa that feature his
distinguishable style that is characterized by a combination of course and
smooth textures on their surfaces. Eddie Mumba one of Zambia’s foremost subtractive
sculptors who is also a lecturer at the Evelyn Hone college has a fascinating
selection of wood and metal pieces in the collection, one of the most
interesting being a large porcupine meticulously fashioned from reclaimed metal
bars. Robert Nyirenda (1958 to 1998) who started working in wood at the tender
age of 12, came to Lusaka in 1968 and started working in soap stone and later
granite and marble also has work in the show. His style is particularly
distinctive because he worked in an era – particularly in Zambia -- when power
tools were extremely expensive and therefore out of reach for artists. His works
have a course mallet and chisel feel to them with distinct surfaces that bare a
charming jaggedness. Andrew Makromalis a versatile artist who is also one of
the country’s very few ceramists has two earthenware vessels in his familiar
misshapen style as part of the collection.
Breast-feeding Mother, 1993, acrylic on canvas, 120 x 79 cm, by Julia Malunga |
As earlier alluded, the
two-dimensional works in the collection are both representational and sentimental
with a little exceptions, these being a few abstract paintings by Vincentio
Phiri, Patrick Mumba and William Miko. Phiri is a celebrated abstract
expressionist on the Zambian art scene; all his three works Back Yard (1997), Power of Love (1997) and Wandengeya
Road (1997) are in his distinctive, totally abstract manner reducing the
value of his paintings to swift lines and kaleidoscopic colours that evoke
motion. The works in this collection are a rare example of the artist branching
away from his preferred circular brush and palette knife strokes.
Similarly the works of
Mumba, a Master of Fine Art Graduate from Rhodes University and a lecturer in
Fine Art at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka is another one of Zambia’s
leading abstract painters that have adopted a totally nonfigurative style he has
two very different works in the collection, one is from his Messages from Our Ancestors series and
features tiny, multi-coloured boxes embellished with an array of idiosyncratic
symbols conceived by the artist himself and the other is a haphazard explosion of
colour and line that totally eliminates the assumption of any shape or form.
Miko, also the curator
of the exhibition, possesses a Master of Fine Art degree from Middlesex University
he is also a senior Fine Art lecturer at the Zambia Open University. Not only is
he an academic and outspoken interlocutor of the visual arts but one of the country’s
leading full and semi-abstract painters. While he is a well-rounded realistic
painter and sculptor, his single work in this collection is one of his
distinctive crowd scenes executed in his “mark-making” style, a technique that
comprises making multi-coloured slashes of paint on canvas, his work Market Place (1989) is a typical example
of the style.
Here I am, 1997, ebony, sand-stone, metal, 122 x 71 x 48.5 cm by Flinto Chandia |
Also in the collection
are a series of drawings by Shadreck Simukanga (1955 – 2004) one of Zambia’s
most influential artists, a master draftsman, skilled painter and art teacher
under whose hands some of the country’s most prominent young artists have
passed. All three figurative works were done in the late 1980s these are The Shoe Repair, a Mother and Child
ensemble and a landscape that features a bushy outcrop.
Style Kunda’s paintings,
Township and Chatting respectively demonstrate how the artist seamlessly shifts
from a representational to abstract technique. Considered a veteran, Kunda
remains one of the few artists that have been active consistently over a 40
year period.
Dean Nsabashi another
of the country’s veteran painters expresses himself in acrylic on canvas, often
picking everyday life as his inspiration with women and children as his subject
matter, Feeding the community, his
only piece in this collection is a typical example.
Dabson Njobvu a self-taught
artist who spent over a decade in East Africa, is a rare oil paint virtuoso
identifiable by his meticulous attention to detail and penchant for landscapes
with gullies, rivers, forest thickets and village scenes. One of his typical
renditions is Mother and child breast
feeding which is in this collection. Njobvu’s work is not the only one with
a nursing subject, Julia Malunga’s (1964 – 1997) Breast feeding mother (1993) is themed along similar lines and
executed in her spotted-colour technique it is a charming mother and child
ensemble. Although she died at the age of 33, Malunga remains an influential figure
in Zambian art history as she is the only female chairperson of the Visual Arts
Council of Zambia. Malunga studied Art & Design at the defunct Africa
Literature Centre in Mindolo, Kitwe and worked as a graphic designer in the
media industry.
The collection also has
six prints by three pioneer artists namely Gijsbert Witkamp, Cynthia Zukas and
Henry Tayali (1943 – 1987). Witkamp’s The
Wall (1986) and Shape of the house
(1987) are two specimens of his mastery in the usage of negative and positive
space. Witkamp arrived in Zambia from Holland in 1976 and has been active on
the art scene ever since taking up many apprentices in printmaking at the
Evelyn Hone College printmakers workshops in the 1970s. During his MA
Anthropology studies, he did extensive research on indigenous Zambian cultural
ceremonies with particular interest in the Makishi
of North Western Province. He is also passionate about documenting the Zambian
art scene and his well-researched texts on his Art in Zambia Blog give an insightful glimpse in to the Zambian art
scene.
A 1999 lithograph of
three calabashes is the only work by Zukas in the collection. Although she is
known for depicting colourful pastoral scenes in oil and watercolour that are
inspired by a small family farm outside the city of Lusaka where she often
takes sanctuary, her true passion is that of printmaking, she passionately
tutored many artists during the Evelyn Hone College workshops in the 1970s and
subsequently donated her own press to the institution. Zukas has been active on
the Zambian art scene since 1964 and through the Lechwe Trust she has
relentlessly supported the visual arts through scholarships, commissions and
exhibitions. Her contribution in promoting art has not gone unrecognized, Her
Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of England awarded an MBE to Zukas, in
acknowledgment of her services to visual art and to charitable work in Zambia.
Two untitled 1978 and
1982 crowd scenes as well as, The madalas
by the fireside (1982) and The Chief
and his people (1985) mark Tayali’s presence in the collection. The four
works show a subtler side of the artist well known to be an all-rounder, dabbling
in sculpture, painting and academia. Tayali launched his career in the early
1960s in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia at a very young age, upon returning home to
Zambia he later proceeded to study a B.A. (Fine Art) at Makerere University in
Uganda and an M.A., Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany.
The “Donation” to the
Lechwe Trust will consolidate a collection of over 200 works by Zambian artists
that date back to the 1960s further reinforcing an already splendid collection
of contemporary Zambian art.
*This article is an abridged version of the text for the exhibition catalogue Donation written by Andrew Mulenga; look out for a follow-up article that features remarks from ambassador Ofstad, Cynthia Zukas, William Miko and a Zambian artist based in Norway.