Focus on the Artist: Zenlele Chulu

Zenzele Chulu is art activist in many respects , began art as a baby, scribbling on sand while crawling , grew up in an artistic family and went to Evelyn Hone College to receive his Art Teachers Diploma , four years as Head of Art Section Kabulonga High School, joined VAC Documentation Project and currently is Coordinator of Insaka International Artists Workshop, formerly Mbile, where he is transforming it into a professional art institution. He has worked and demonstrated high capacity in organizing and mobilizing numerous artistic events and art projects as a curator, consultant, adjudicator, educator , facilitator with corporate, NGOs, government and international organizations to put up art exhibitions, workshops, training and project management.

His work has been exhibited from humble exhibitions to the highest level of international art in Africa, Asia and Europe with great artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Alberto Corda, Malangatana, Sokari Douglas Camp, Uche Okeke. He continues to make in roads in the contemporary Art world with a strong conviction of self confidence to present his philosophical thoughts expressed using a multi disciplinary approach. Despite a busy art administrative schedule he uses every opportunity to execute his art expressions called flamboyantism, Contra, Schematic Tantrums all styles have a deep inclination towards ancient African allegories freely working in his own pantheon, a self taught student of Pan African Studies and African Civilisations, he continues to research, explore and learn the art world, flexible and influential to work with almost anyone local and international art connections, he is equipped with a self motivated drive to express the way he wishes, the viewpoints he believes makes his art sensible as well as accessible. With the advent of conceptual art, Zenzele is more than excited to use its unlimited source of material application without losing touch with the ancient African inspired themes.

Insaka Artists Exhibition Part 2

Review: Insaka Artists Residency Exhibition - Part 1

The exhibition at the Henry Tayali gallery on Friday evening was an amalgamation of work from the Insaka residency programme and portraits done by local artists.
The portraits represented a breadth of subjects and acted as a kind of visual journey, demonstrating work from artists at various stages in their development both technically and conceptually. The Insaka residency programme had played host to three women artists – Mercy Moyo from Zimbabwe, Misozi Moyo from Zambia and Sable Weldemanuel from Ethiopia. Their residency lasted 5 weeks.
Misozi Moyo

Misozi Moyo's pieces revealed an interest in local culture – paintings of clay pots for example - but her talent became apparent when looking at her abstract pieces. Her ability to emulate the random texturing of pain of Pollack and marrying this with an innate understanding of colour and pattern was fascinating. Her abstract work on first glance seems chaotic but on closer inspection one could see a method or narrative in the paintings. With the careful juxtaposition of random form with repetition, she successfully marries order with chaos.

Mercy Moyo

It was easy to identify Mercy Moyo's paintings her visual voice is loud and proud in each of her detailed and fluid paintings. Whether working on huge sheets of transparent plastic or more conventional canvases, her style shines through with vibrancy and generosity. Her subjects are often people but she also excels in depicting urban landscapes. The proportions of her people are often reminiscent of Paula Rego and her stylistic sensibility is impressionistic, however her intuitive use of earth –tones places these works firmly in Africa.

Sable Weldamanuel
Sable Weldamanuel's use of local materials and ephemera we used boldly on large canvases. Labels and logos from Zambia seemed to speak of the artist as an outsider, discovering, in the superficial and throwaway an identity of a country. Her work showed an ambitiousness and her fearlessness in attempting new paths of creativity.

The Henry Tayali Gallery

Within the surreal village of the Showgrounds sits the Henry Tayali gallery. Lusaka is not a city visited by tourists, most travellers are either passing through to visit the more famous and breathtaking Victoria Falls, or South Luangwa national park. Those travellers that stay on Lusaka are usually here on business, or to attend a workshop. Therefore, to find such a place as the Henry Tayali gallery is a pleasant surprise and well worth searching out.

The gallery was formed in 1989 in what used to be an old tobacco shed. Funding for the gallery was originally through NORAD - Norwegian agency for development. Since then, funding has come from various embassies and international organisations.

The gallery was named after one of Zambia's most important artists - Henry Tayali who died in 1987. The gallery was officially opened in 1995 and has since hosted artists from all over the world as well as across Zambia.

Aside from regular exhibitions, the gallery is the backdrop to many an artists' workshop and supports both established and new artists that use a myriad of mediums.

Thoughts from the Gallery - Scratching the Surface

When I come to Henry Tayali, I am often asked a version of the same question - 'What do you paint?' The automatic assumption is that I must be an artist to be hanging around, let's disregard my intermittent sketching and fiction writing (which I have been assured by my very generous friends here makes me an artist) and say that I am interested in art. It is a reasonable question to ask, I have only come across one person who does not class herself as an artist, and she has assured me she is going to start painting.



The individuals that work here and also with the partner groups Insaka Artists and AAW are not special because they work without any pay and don't necessarily sell much (though this is impressive), but because they are without artifice or prentention and have so much acceptance for anyone who comes and expresses an interest and what they do. I spend so much time here, surrounded by art - sculpture and paintings are to be found in the offices, in storage spaces as well as in the gallery itself - because by scratching the surface, I have found a new aspect to Zambia that wasn't sure existed.

Face 2 Face: Next Exhibition at Henry Tayali Gallery

Friday 18th December, 18:00hrs - Sunday 20th December

This mini, tandem exhibition will showcase work from the Insaka Artists' Residency Workshop and a portrait exhibitiont.

The Insaka Artists' group works with artists all over the world with support from Gasworks gallery in London.