Is Great East Road home of ugly art?

By Andrew Mulenga

Sweden is said to boast the world’s longest art gallery, reporting for BBC Travel, Lola Akinmade Åkerström writes: “Running 110km underground in Stockholm’s Tunnelbana (subway) is the world’s longest art exhibition, with paintings, sculptures, mosaics and installations created by 150 artists since the 1950s in more than 90 of the city’s 100 stations.”

A huge statue of a chicken along Great East Road

This brings to mind a key component of Zambia’s transport system which – with due respect to the artists -- also boasts a fair share of art that passengers can gaze upon as they use it for their daily commuting, this is the Lusaka’s Great East Road.

If you live in the Avondale, Chelstone, or PHI areas and use it to commute to the city centre, or if perhaps you are visiting Zambia for the first time and are being driven from the airport to the many hotels in the heart of the metropolis, the first one you will see a huge statue of a Chicken.

Although it is clearly of questionable artistic merit, this structure is a hit among pre-schoolers, and perhaps for good reason, because toddlers may liken it to something they can make in an art class. One can argue it resembles a papier-mâché project a 5-year-old would produce in an art club. Also the chicken has the character of a cartoon which might be the reason why it is popular among toddlers.

An Eagle at the Munali roundabout

Anyway, the sculpture was put up by a business as a guide or beacon to guide its clients to its whereabouts so in that regard it is serving its purpose spot on.

Further down the road is another intersection, popularly known as the Munali Roundabout, this one too is adorned with a huge bird. Although smaller in comparison, this particular one is supposed to represent an eagle, Zambia’s national bird so fondly mentioned in the national anthem: “like a noble eagle in its flight”.

That line alone suggests that an eagle is graceful in flight and one can therefore argue that its strongest attribute is perhaps the span of its wings. But the metal eagle at Munali appears to have an awkwardly short wingspan and equally undersized legs that give it the appearance of a crow.

A water fountain at the Manda Hill

footbridge along Great East Road

Beyond the Munali round about one notices a concentration of drilling and exploration companies, at least five on each side, on their wall fences are paintings of Ashok Leyland drilling lorries, the type built in India. As much as these companies deserve a pat on the back for hiring sign-writers, the hired artists appear to be outdoing themselves on who can produce the least accurate and most ugly rendition of a drilling lorry.

Finally, as you approach the Manda Hill foot bridge you will notice, there is a horrendous water feature made of cement which is technically I collection of geometric shapes placed one on top of the other. I turns out this particular piece was placed there as an advertisement for anyone who might consider commissioning a similar structure.

This art is in public spaces, one wonders whether the civic authorities that approve them have any eye for art at all.

Talented dropout torn between art and piecework

By Andrew Mulenga

Life is like a candle, colour pencil
on paper by William Kazoka

In 2008, while he was in grade 11 at the age of 18, William Kazoka was forced to drop out of school because his unemployed parents were no longer able to fund his education.

Passionate about art, and possessing prodigious talent, he sought refuge in making drawings as a form of escapism whenever he was not busy doing every manner of odd job that would come his way.

Professional art materials do not come cheap, so the Lilanda-based youth would rely on coloured pencils, ball-point pens and salvaged A4-size paper.

“My parents used to be supportive, but not anymore, art started out as a hobby to me but when I turned 15 people used to tell me I was very good and kept encouraging me. Whenever my dad saw me drawing he was always upset and told me to concentrate on my school, even though I had to drop out”, he says

Detail of an unfinished Pieta, after
Michelangelo by William Kazoka

“I stopped drawing for a while, but then a friend of mine, Hendrix told me of the Arts Academy Without Walls (AAWW) here in the Lusaka show grounds last year so that’s when I started coming here to get inspired, there are a lot of young artists here that are helpful some of them even help me with materials whenever they have enough to spare, but even for them it is not easy”.

He has not been able to take up permanent space at the AAWW because some of the more experienced artists have also occupied the space for a longer period have been asking the upcoming ones for rentals that should be paid three months in advance. This is a serious challenge because most young artists are unable to pay the K50 membership fee to the Visual Arts Council (VAC) itself.

“Also it’s not easy for me to continue drawing or painting, I always have to find some piecework so I do a lot of walking around. I would be very happy to go back to school, even in grade 11 where I left, I don’t mind, I just do not have the support,” says the artist who turns 25 this year.

African woman, colour pencil
on paper by William Kazoka

He is the first born among 5, and sadly only two of his younger siblings are in school because his parents challenging financial situation does not appear to be improving.

But then again his depressing situation does not reflect in his work, which occasionally contains a vibrant outburst of colours. When not imitating European masters like Michelangelo, his subject matter varies from portraits of African women to ethereal concepts; one such example is a colour drawing he calls Life Is like a Candle.

The work evokes a very deep mind's eye, revealing in the artist’s talent an air of mysterious genius, certainly an outstanding piece of work, for someone who has never studied art professionally, let alone undergone any form of apprenticeship Kazoka shows great promise.

Unfortunately, there is no telling the fate of this young talent whose future appears to be enveloped in uncertainty. Although he remains hopeful of one day returning to school to complete grade 12 and subsequently take up art at the Evelyn Hone College, for now his destiny remains wedged in the daily routine of searching for any available odd job, relegating his art practice and outstanding gift to indecision. 

Upcoming artist William Kazoka from
Lusaka's Lilanda township

Trio set to entertain in Show without a Name

By Andrew Mulenga

Three of Lusaka’s most gifted young artists have ganged up for what is likely to be one of the most exciting exhibitions of the year. Owen Shikabeta, David Makala and Mulenga Mulenga are adding finishing touches for their forthcoming exhibition Show without a Name which is scheduled for Thursday March 5 at the Ababa House Zebra Crossing Café along Addis Ababa Drive in Lusaka.

(L-R) Owen Milyoni Shikabeta,
Mulenga J Mulenga and David Doubt Makala

The combined energy and vitality of this trio should be enough to get any art lover excited, and individually they are all unpredictable constantly shifting styles, themes and media, so there is no telling what to expect, and to add a pinch of enigma to the show is the catchy title.

Shikabeta is a self-taught artist who is literally soldering a name for himself by becoming the next big thing in scrap metal art in Zambia and hopefully beyond. Although the 28 year old is known for creating meticulous sculptures of musical instruments, he is also recognised for piecing together souring figurines that ironically mimic his own towering physical stature. In fact, he was one of the key artists that put together Anti Retro Viral Man, a 2010 statue created entirely of scrap metal that stands outside the Lusaka National Museum and was welded together by the Dr Jack Menke-led Art 4 Art initiative.

Loose II, mixed media, by David Makala

Makala, the unassuming mastermind of the show is known for experimentation and this habit perhaps reached its peak last year during the exhibition entitled Metamorphosis held at the select 37d Gallery alongside Natasha Evans in Lusaka late last year. The 31 year old dishevelled mixed-media painter is always full of surprises so there is no telling whether he will reference his formative years with VAC’s August Studio workshops, the Art Academy without Walls, Kachere Art Studios, and Roots of Expression Studios or perhaps he will bring out something new altogether. Nevertheless, excitement is abounding and Makala never fails to entertain.

Mulenga is the youngest but this and the fact that she is the last mentioned and the only lady in the trio by no means makes her the least. Imagine her as Wonderwoman in The Justice League or the Invisible Woman from the Fantastic Four; she packs as deadly a punch as her teammates.

At the Evelyn Hone College she majored in sculpture but the artist remains one of the most consistent pictorial and abstract painters of her generation, best known for themes that reference youth and early childhood. But besides her shift from sculpture to painting, the 27 year old often dabbles in new media, experimenting with video, sound and performance so again there is no telling what she will bring to the table for Show without a Name.

Shikabeta explores notions of abandoned habits and lost
talent by referencing hypothetically extinct species

“All I can tell you is that although we will celebrate our passed influences, we will be stepping outside our usual [creative] borders, exploring new territories”, warns Mulenga.

The exhibition opening event will run from 17:30hrs to 20:00hrs and all artists will be on site to mingle with the visitors; scrumptious finger food will be served free while refreshments will be available from the restaurant’s cash bar. If you miss next week’s opening, the work will be on display until April 8.

Meanwhile, in case you missed the opening of the live performance and painting Omission / Unit 43 by Vincentio Phiri and Dutchman Camiel van Lenteren at East Park Mall along Lusaka’s Great East Road, it runs until March 27.