Since its inception in 2016, Modzi Arts’ main goal has been to be a space for creatives of multiple displays to flock, be inspired, and guide each other on their respective creative journeys. It aimed to promote Zambian art history to the Zambian people in a way that allows them to build upon their ancestral heritage to create while not forgetting their roots. Additionally, promoting Zambian art to the art world at large. These ambitious goals made it so Modzi Arts would inevitably outgrow the space of its humbler beginnings. This created the need to move into a space that would allow for Modzi’s growing community of multi-disciplinary creatives to work comfortably in the Modzi space.
 
Modzi Arts moved into the Ibex Hill space in the spring of 2018. The move to the Ibex Hill space was out of a sense of vulnerability, as Modzi had creative differences with their previous landlord. This was the catalyst for Modzi’s new endeavour; finding a new space to facilitate their creative needs.  Modzi had no intention of permanently settling, especially considering the building's architecture was old-fashioned having been built in the late 70s. Foresight would tell them this would be an inhibiting force when the Modzi space would continue to grow beyond the spaces’ capacity. Additionally, It had become decrepit after being vacant for 2 years, meaning it was in need of constant repair. Constantly needing to seal cracks and repair pipes.
 
Modzi searched for bigger and more resilient spaces to relocate to in Lusaka during 2018. Admittedly, Modzi was still in its adolescent stage of growth during this time, making issues like rent strenuous on the fairly new NGOs budget. This put Modzi in a precarious position; How would they proceed in a way that would be most conducive to Modzi’s future?
 
When considering the future of Modzi in terms of sustaining pre-existing Modzi, the idea of completely demolishing the Ibex Hill building space in order to create a bigger, more efficient and modern space came to mind. Considering they would pay the same amount of rent, Demolition and reconstruction would have been more economical in the long term. However, the space was built by one the of board members' grandmother, Josina Kaunda, this meant Modzi would have to build a relationship with the board members family in order to obtain a long-term lease. Concurrently, the idea of demolition would actively conflict with one of Modzi Arts’ core values; Creating in a way that builds upon ancestral heritage so as to not forget one's roots.
 
Modzi came to a reasonable compromise between upholding one of their core values and needing a more spacious yet rugged space. It would simply work with and and around the existing structure. In truth, it was easier said than done, with the guidance of licensed architect Adrian (Berlin) and Jeff Banda (Zambia) relaying what was and wasn't possible with the idea of the compromise, budget, and time in mind.

​It was this conflict that inspired building the cracks. Building in a way that accommodates the old while adapting to the times.

"In the end I discovered a show making bold social commentary – speaking to the past, the contemporary and the future of Zambia, if not Africa." - Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti on an untitled exhibition with works of Aaron Samuel Mulenga and Mapopa Hussein Manda

While viewing Modzi Gallery’s exhibition in the FNB Art Joburg 2021, showcasing the work of Aaron Samuel Mulenga and Mapopa Hussein Manda, I found myself drifting and wandering in search of points of intersection and divergence. Evident at first glimpse were parallel themes like the politics of climate change and ancestry punctuated by a marked difference in materiality, styles, and symbolism in the untitled show. Yet I understood that pairing two artists in a show or juxtaposing their work generates dialogue, if not multiple ones. As such, I appropriate the title of this essay from writer Rebecca Solnit’s In Praise of the Meander (1), an essay I have engaged with whenever my mind oscillates ‘back and forth’ in pursuit of a linear narrative. Reflecting on it always licenses me to wonder, even go wild in my waking dream, searching for common elements. In the end I discovered a show making bold social commentary – speaking to the past, the contemporary and the future of Zambia, if not Africa. The beauty of not assigning a title to a show is that it frees art from the burden of ‘meaning’ and gives viewers the liberty to interpret it however they want. (2)

Both Mulenga and Manda revisit the nation’s archives referencing selected events. In The 1960 Murder of Lilian Burton, a portraiture painting collaged with newsprints, Manda highlights the harrowing May 8, 1960, incident in which a white housewife and her kids had their car doused in petrol and set alight by a mob in Ndola. Depicted in the portraits are John Chanda, Robin Kamima, Edward Creta Ngebe, and James Paikani Phiri, fou UNIP (3) members who were tried for allegedly masterminding the attack, in what is considered the longest and most costly trial in the legal history of Northern Rhodesia. The incident strengthened the settlers’ resolve to consolidate power, yet also intensified the nationalists’ fight for self-determination.(4) In his analyses of ochlocracy, novelist and critic Teju Cole states that mobs, characterized by their quickness, do arise out of a crises.(5) It is that context Manda does not want Zambia to forget, as well as the strange fact that on her deathbed, Lilian did not want the Rhodesians to avenge her death.

Although Afronaut Jojo and Afronaut Chintelelwe are Afrofuturistic works asserting Black liberation and aspiration, in them Mulenga also references the 1964 Zambian Space Program initiated by Edward Festus Mukuka Nkoloso, a man who seemingly had a vision well ahead of his time and that of a nation whose citizens questioned his sanity at the time. “When certain people speak others listen, as long as they are not the marginalized,” exclaimed Mulenga. Nkoloso was not deterred by those who thought his was mere wishful thinking, declaring instead, “But I’ll be laughing the day I plant Zambia’s flag on the moon.” (6) The artist also wants us to engage with the seemingly disparate objects he incorporates in the frames, mostly drawn from the “witchcraft sections” of anthropology and ethnographic museums. For how long the European knowledge system will continue to vulgarize masks and other objects originating from Africa is a matter that troubles Mulenga.

​Zambia recently lost its first president Kenneth Kaunda, considered one of Africa’s great statesmen. Both artists memorialize him in interesting ways. In Welcome Home KK, Mulenga uses a mask borrowed from the Chokwe ethnic group, marked with the icingelyengele symbol. Most notable in the work is a replica white mouchoir, symbolizing the late former president’s trademark handkerchief. According to the artist, “KK has had great moments for the nation of Zambia, and for the continent of Africa too. So, I saw it befitting to pay tribute to him.” It was while in Mbala, an area of rich histories and natural beauty in northern Zambia, that Mulenga seriously thought about the subject of the ancestors of the land and conceptualized the work. By passing Kaunda transcended to become one of them.

​In The Zambian Last Supper, Manda draws inspiration from Leonardo Da Vinci’s iconic work to also pay tribute to a leader who served the nation of Zambia with distinction. “The idea came seeing that KK was quite advanced in age and the inevitable would happen. I asked myself how I would immortalize him?” explains Manda. In the portrait, the artist includes all of Zambia’s past presidents, and the incumbent, and a few key liberation heroes, with Kaunda occupying center stage. The portraits of the leaders are collaged with headlines from the nation’s newspapers. The food and drinks on the table are not random. They either depict the nicknames for some of the leaders or the lavish lifestyles they were known for. The work is an embodiment of postcolonial Zambia’s history seen through the nation’s presidium, yet it invites the viewers to reflect and laugh at some of the flaws in the characters that have occupied the nation’s highest office over the years. Filled with humour and biting social commentary, Manda’s work compares better to a work of the same title by Uganda’s Paul Ndema. (7)

The two artists also engage with various key contemporary issues in interesting ways. In Hope and Extinction, Manda takes on environmental issues. The artist, who is a member of Extinction Rebellion which is a global environmental movement using nonviolent means to compel governments to tackle causes of climate change, sees it befitting to use Zambia as the launchpad for his contribution to the noble campaign. The nation has witnessed the destruction of arable land and pollution of underground water systems through abandoned mine dumps on the Copperbelt. “Contrary to what capitalists think, mines are detrimental to society. Zambians deal with the toxic waste emanating from the detritus of mines,” asserts Manda. The timing of the work could not be greater, with the just ended 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP26, exposing some of the leading global powers for being out of touch with the threat climate change poses to humanity. For Africa, the threat is immediate. Also speaking to the idea of standing up and acting is Mulenga’s Sanga Ishiwi Yobe, which translates to ‘Find Your Voice’. The artist calls the youths on the continent to stand their ground and participate in the formulation of the decisions that determine their future. In the recent presidential elections, the youths of Zambia did that and made sure the election was not rigged or stolen from them.

Employing found materials in the form of a mask and an industrial helmet in The Proletariat, Mulenga pays tribute to the Black workers in different trades. The work is the artist’s way of celebrating Black success, which mostly comes through toiling. “Always remember, we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams. Our grandparents and parents have been through a lot to put us where we are, sometimes with no food to eat. They paved the way. So, we just cannot sit on our laurels,” says Mulenga. Perhaps, there is a serious dialectic pursuit when one juxtaposes Mulenga’s work with Manda’s Dead Aid, which engages the emotive matter of western aid and its effects on the developing nations. Manda perceives western aid as “a neo-colonial agenda to keep the developing world from realizing actual development.” In the work, lying on the ground is a woman possibly swooned by poverty. In the backdrop is a message derived from Banksy: “Follow Your Dreams: Cancelled”. I invoke the name of Dambisa Moyo, Zambia’s famous writer on the subject. The artist thinks she could perhaps do more if she was not the poster-girl of the west.

In the same way western aid has destroyed Africans’ industrious abilities, the importation of second-hand clothes from the east has destroyed the local manufacturing industry. This is the narrative depicted by the artist in Bend Down Boutique ‘Salaula’. “Some buyers dress as masquerades to try and hide themselves from the public gaze,” says Manda. ‘Salaulas’ are places where some customers manage to fish out the latest fashion and sports labels as well. In well-functioning economies, governments would impose protectionist policies to ward off external competition for the local industries. However, this is not the case in most African countries characterized by high levels of unemployment, with an underpaid civil service.

Mulenga’s I Can’t Breathe engages with the condition of precarity Black lives are subjected to throughout the world. In the USA, the experiences of the Black subject are not a secret anymore. Blacks who have endured the perilous journey from the motherland to Europe find themselves on the fringes of society. Even on the continent, the typical postcolonial government is not friendly to its Black subjects. Even when read as signifying the moment we are currently in – the time of the pandemic – it is the Black subject that has endured the most in many parts of the world.

Besides the identified themes above, there are other aspects to consider in this exhibition. The materials the artists employ in executing their ideas are worth discussing too. Mulenga has developed a repertoire of using hessian, and the icingelyengele symbol, which he has discussed before. (8) As such I asked him about the mask. “It comes from the Chokwe people found in Zambia, Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although I acquired the masks in this work from the market, that does not make them less authentic. This is something I would want the audiences to interrogate.” Likewise, Manda draws my attention to the reclaimed wood he uses, especially for the works that engage environmental matters. “Certain subject matter demands certain materials,” the artist states. His use of newsprints in the collages can also be read as a way of upcycling.

Again, the big lesson from Rebecca Solnit is that it is alright to meander when not certain, for structures do take many forms. I see this body of work highlighting past legacies, engaging with current contentious issues, and speaking to the future of Zambia, Africa and the world. However, as Teju Cole asserts, “… in discovering all that can be known about a work of art, what cannot be known is honored even more.” (9) I admit there could be a blind spot in my interrogation, knowledge, and understanding of the work. Like any other, this exhibition can be read in many ways.

References

1. Rebecca Solnit. ‘In Praise of the Meander’. Literature Hub: https://lithub.com/in-praise-of-the-meander-rebecca-solnit-on-letting-nonfiction-narrative-find-itsown-way/
2. Athi Mongezeleli Joja. ‘Gallery Momo: No titles enable your own take’. Mail & Guardian: https://mg.co.za/article/2015-01-08-no-titles-enable-your-own-take/
3. The United National Independence Party liberated and ruled Zambia at independence in 1964.
4. Walima T. Kalusa. 2011. ‘The Killing of Lilian Margaret Burton and Black and White Nationalisms in Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) in the 1960s’. Journal of
Southern African Studies 37:01, 63-77, DOI: 10.1080/03057070.2011.552544
5. Teju Cole. ‘Perplexed… Perplexed’: On Mob Justice in Nigeria. The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/10/perplexed-perplexedon-mob-justice-in-nigeria/264006/
6. Namwali Serpell. ‘The Zambian ‘Afronaut’ who Wanted to Join the Space Race’. The New Yoker: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-zambianafronaut-who-wanted-to-join-the-space-race
7. David Trigg. 2021. “Paul Ndema”, in African Artists From 1882 to Now. London and New York: Phaidon Press Limited.
8. Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti. 2020. ‘Aaron Samuel Mulenga: The Power of Black Art and Representation’ Sugarcane Magazine: https://sugarcanemag.com/2020/06/aaron-samuel-mulenga-the-power-of-black-art-and-representation/
9. Teju Cole. ‘Shadows in São Paulo’. New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/magazine/shadows-in-sao-paulo.html

​• All images provided by Ba Taonga Julia Kaseka, the Director/Curator at Modzi Arts
​
• Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti is an arts writer based in Cape Town, a Research Assistant at the Zeitz MOCAA museum, and a Ph.D. candidate in Art History in the NRF SARChI Chair program in Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa, at the University Currently Known As Rhodes.

My name is Mumba Yachi. I am an artist musician and have been doing music for over 20 years now. I play guitar, write songs and sing. I was glad to be Modzi Arts’ participating artist in the Sound of Ubuntu collaboration project that Modzi had with Moto Republik of Zimbabwe. I got to work with Monkey Nuts, a contemporary Zimbabwean music band.

I loved the project theme of Ubuntu. I understand Ubuntu to be the African spirit of togetherness in social life and humanism. In African culture and tradition, we believe that someone’s child in a village is a child of the village. Therefore, this means that I cannot let my neighbour’s children suffer. If or when I see them in trouble, I help them like they are my own. That is ubuntu. I believe that Ubuntu is a gift we have as Africans from God, to look up to and take care of each other as one. And so, I was really excited about the project, because it brought out ubuntu in itself. We were coming together to share in the commonality of our cultural heritage through a universal language called music. This project shows to me that actually there are no boarders.

We spent 3 weeks exchanging ideas, sampling music of the 70’s from both countries and experimenting on how we could blend it with what we know and do now. Participating in the project left me with great new knowledge in my art. For example, it was for the first time that I got to see and understand how sampling is done- something I had always heard of but never actually experienced. The biggest take away musically was expanding my knowledge of Zimbabwean music from the 70’s. I learnt of how Zimbabwean musicians of that era were quite experimental. They played with sounds from as far as Cuba, America and England and fused all such influence with the Zimbabwean sound element. It was nice also to interrogate and share with my Zimbabwean counterparts on Paul Ngozi’s music. Ngozi is a key figure  in understanding Zambian music of the 70s. Ngozi’s music was music of the people, depicting what happens in everyday society. His style was mostly rock fusion with Zambian Kalindula. His live band component made his music timeless as it lives on several years after his death.  They say “the voice of the people is the voice of God.” Paul Ngozi spoke of the people and that is why he is the legend he is.

I feel humbled and blessed to work with Modzi on this project. It was both informative and fun.

Mumba Yachi

​Art farming is a concept that I created in the year 2015 upon graduating from the fifth edition of the Asiko Art School that was held in Maputo, Mozambique. It was during a one on one conversation with the founder and director of Asiko Art School, Olabisi Silva that I coined the concept of art farming. This came about as a result of her emphasis on the need for artists to explore further the artisanal side of their practice so that they can have a sustainable way of living.
 
The emphasis of art farming is to forge an artistic farming way of life that is based on a scientific organic, experimental and creative approach towards art and farming using all the elements of the environment in a given location. Even though my Art farming project is still in its infancy my goal is to one day have an art farming residency project where I will be helping artists to establish farms as well as gardens in their various studio spaces as sustainable way of living.
 
All in all, it must be noted that farming is indeed an art because it always gives way at every point for the farmer to create from his vision and put into practice what he envisions. 
 
Best of regards,
 
Mapopa Hussein Manda,
 
Freelance visual artist, 
 
A member of the Zambia national visual arts council.

Corona Virus has severely affected the arts industry in Zambia, threatening closure of art spaces and challenging artists’ livelihoods. As a result, Modzi Arts has been facing difficulties within programing and operations, which all contribute towards the sustainable structures of the organization.

For the last seven months Modzi has been supporting artists with accommodation within the Modzi house and work space. We closed the space to the public but kept it open to artists, especially those in need. By keeping the space open for artists in need, we have been able to support some of our beneficiaries by being a home in such difficult times. Artists have kept coming into the space either for ideas, discussion, food or shelter.

Luckily, we have had funding from the amazing organization In Place of War. This funding has allowed Modzi to cook lunches or dinners (traditional local foods) and feed artists and their families.  From this, the Modzi Kitchen has been born! This is a place of rethinking the idea of community, fostering dependability/Ubuntu amongst each other in the art industry during hard times.

In order to make the Modzi Kitchen sustainable on a long term basis, a food garden is being created by local artist Mapopa Hussein Manda as part of the Art Farming Residency. Food is being grown by the very community that comes to use the space and together we become producers of Ubuntu.