ARTIST PROFILE

Mwamba Mulangala (born 1976) has garnered the interest and patronage of a number of global institutions and private collections. Dedicated to both his own artistic growth and that of his country, Mwamba is recognized as one of Zambia’s most compelling and innovative artists. Mwamba is an active participant within the art community. He volunteers as a visual arts instructor for orphanages and has developed art projects for street kids, orphans and other vulnerable children in Zambia. Mwamba holds an Art Teachers’ Diploma from Evelyn Hone College, Zambia; a Bachelor’s Degree from Zambian Open University and a Masters in Fine Art from the University for the Creative Arts, UK. Mwamba serves on the organizing committee of Insaka International Artists’ Trust that fosters the development of art in Zambia, a non-profit artists’ initiative that is part of the Triangle Network. Previously he served as an executive committee member of the Zambia National Visual Arts Council. Mwamba also teaches visual arts at the American International School of Lusaka. He currently works and lives in Zambia.

 

Mwamba’s solo exhibitions include Body Language at Bella Luna in Massachusetts; Kumwesu (A place where one comes from) at the Dubuque Museum of Art, in Iowa, USA; Resonance Within at Lusaka National Museum in Zambia; and Unplugged at Bag Factory in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been part of international group exhibitions in Heidelberg and Herxheim, Germany; New York City and Los Angeles, USA; Pucallpa and Lima, Perú; and Johannesburg, South Africa. Winner of the 1999 Henry Tayali Award for The Best Two Dimensional in Zambia. He was selected for the 2010 Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal. Mwamba has also undertaken artist residencies at Centro Selva in Perú, Can Serrat in Spain and Bag Factory in South Africa.

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ARTIST STATEMENT

Mwamba Mulangala creates evocative work using a combination of conventional and quotidian materials from his immediate environment. His work is based on a personal inquiry into the rights and responsibilities of societies to survive and thrive, including the relationships within and between them. This includes the fight for access to equal opportunities, peace and conflict resolution, political retribution as well as the spiritual realm. In his paintings, he has a habit of working on stretched canvases as acrylic paint mixing supports and recycles these into uniquely finished paintings with charming layers of color, texture, and depth. Mwamba also repurposes found materials from his environment and creates exciting assemblages and mixed media.

 

“The materiality of my creations has always been inextricably linked to the themes that I choose to portray – giving power to and allowing the materials to speak. I believe that, beyond subject matter, materials have social and cultural adherence; due to their past and present that tell stories and this gives the whole creative concept greater meaning to me.”

 

Mwamba uses the human form as a point of departure. Habitually, within his textural painterly illustrative work, he further manipulates the exertions by adding introspective text – ingeniously manipulating these supportive messages with a focus to instigate allegory. These threads often create whimsical, yet definitive narratives; but also create resilient, yet profound annotations. The surface materials used to embellish this evocative and colorful body of work is presented through a range of supports like paint mixed canvases, oxidized metal sheets, plastic, tree bark and even the reworking of discarded commercially branded packaging; which he repurposes to expose staggering universal truths while occasionally delving into anthropomorphism – equating human behavior to that of animals.

 

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