Missing Painting At The Henry Tayali Gallery

We are sad to report that a painting has gone missing from the Henry Tayali gallery. If anyone has information on its whereabouts please contact us: lusakaartscene@googlemail.com

Chilyapa Lwando

Artist Focus - Chilyapa Lwando

Chilyapa Lwando is a busy man these days. Not only does he work full time for the Henry Tayali gallery, he's an active photographer and painter. Currently he is working double time to get ready for his exhibition at Alliance Francaise next month. Lwando is prolific and has a large body of work from which draw his pieces. Consequently the exhibition will be something of a retrospect.

The themes of traditional culture and society figure most in his work, though Lwando has been focusing on traditional culture in particular. He feels it is important to preserve and promote Zambian culture as he fears it is being eroded. However his paintings are not merely to educate but to celebrate and reinforce his own sense of identity as well as a way of exploring and critiquing some of the traditional ways found in Zambia and Africa more broadly. For Lwando his art and cultural identity are very closely woven together.



Other aspects of Lwando's work address social issues such as HIV/Aids and the role of women. He draws inspiration from the everyday activities of children and women.


Lwando's paintings are vivid and he likes to use fibres or sand to give his paintings texture. If you are in the Lusaka area on March 19th, stop by Alliance Francaise to see Chilyapa Lwando's paintings 'in the flesh' so to speak, and experience their vibrancy first hand.

Artist Focus - Stary Mwaba

Stary Mwaba says it was being exposed to the work of Mark Rothko that revealed to him the possibilities in straying from a realistic form of painting to something more abstract. Indeed Mwaba’s paintings seem to be a marriage of realism with the a freer more abstract style, figures, rendered meticulously with intensely expressive faces are often found surrounded with more expressionist figures and backgrounds, representing a kind of internal dialogue or inner consciousness. Or perhaps it is the other way around; Mwaba’s subjects look pensive, deep in thought while the world around them fades into an abstract mesh of colour and form.
It is this technical and contextual duality in Mwaba’s paintings that make his work so intriguing and rewarding.

The catalyst for Mwaba’s talent came while he was a peer educator more than thirteen years ago. He found it easier to express what he wanted to say through illustrations and when facing extreme difficulties at home, painting became a useful escape and outlet for his feelings and thoughts. An artist friend eventually made him aware of the Visual Arts Council of Zambia, and Mwaba found himself surrounded by artists and art that have been crucial in his somewhat informal art education. At VAC and another art collective, Rockston, Mwaba learned that once the rules of art have been learned, they can be broken and boundaries pushed. Mwaba talks of the importance of learning the ‘language or art’ and that being an artist is more than being technically skilful with a brush or pencil.

Since his beginnings when he taught art in a private school and often slept in the local gallery, he has exhibited all over the world including: Gallery Momo in South Africa, The Watermill in New York City and a German expo in Hanover. In 2004 Mwaba won the Commonwealth Arts and Crafts award and consequently worked in Trinidad and Tobago along with artists Peter Doig and Chris Ofili.

Amongst his influences, Mwaba cites Klimt and Picasso and a Mozambique artist Malangatana. The fluid and graceful figures of Klimt can be seen in some his work giving his subjects of everyday people a powerful dignity. Being Zambian has been both a help and hindrance to Mwaba’s work. There is a distinct lack of role models for young artists in Zambia and very little opportunities within the education system to study art. Zambia’s art scene is still trying to find a secure platform and is little known internationally. It is also unfortunate that works of art by local artists do not get as much interest as they could from tourism and the ex-pat community. It seems that visitors prefer the more ‘typical’ souvenirs that comfortably represents the outsiders image of sub-Saharan Africa – African masks, for example or baskets, clay pots and wooden big game animals. They are also cheaper and easier to transport in your back pack. Despite this Mwaba’s work is without bitterness and refuses to adhere to African stereotypes, while portraying everyday life in Zambia with vision and originality. The everyday life and condition of people here Mwaba feels, has attuned his sense to the small moments that are full of meaning.

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.