2020 Annual Report

Foreword

Over six hundred people visited the gallery during the year of 2020. This number of visitors is confirmation that the gallery is a valued asset to the patrons; some have come twice, or have shared the information with friends. We appreciate visitors such as Professor Robert Serpell who have made it a point to bring visitors to the gallery, in a way it is an extension of hospitality.

Primary, secondary schools, and universities have brought their learners to the gallery as part of classroom activities.

As the year progressed, the beneficiaries of Lechwe Trust scholarships, and ‘women artists in the collection’ were showcased. Women Artists in the collection, opened on International Women’s Day, 8th March 2020, a day when women artists assembled at the gallery, together with women art gallery proprietors, women art collectors, women art teachers. This gathering provided a platform on which participants shared their good – or not so good – experiences in multitasking as artists, art teachers, mothers, and wives. A group was formed whose intentions is to interact, formulate, and guide women in art.

The gallery also hosted the first of what is to be an annual art competition called The Cynthia Zukas Young Artist Award (CZYAA) for emerging young artists. The CZYAA saw four young artist receive award certificates and cash prizes. The outcome of this competition was very impressive.

All these events took place with a global problem of Covid19 hanging over them. Even under these circumstances the patronage to the gallery endured. Acquisitions and donations continue to come into the collection. The documentation, storage and maintenance of artworks are ongoing activities.

Alex Nkazi Curator

Chairperson’s Annual Report 2020

A

The year 2020 started on a good note with the Art Lives On ii exhibition which was a wonderful and successful show. But then, as with so many organisations around the world, we have been affected by Covid-19 and some of our activities are on hold.

In March, following a successful Women Artists’ exhibition, we held a lively discussion with the artists on the special problems facing women artists. We agreed to keep in touch.

B

The Grants subcommittee met in April, and again in September, and awarded support to the following:

Gift Nondo, Zambian Open University, Fine Arts BA degree, K25,590. Ms Nondo has now completed her four years of study under Lechwe Trust sponsorship.

Adrian Ngoma, Secondary School Art Teachers’ degree, Mufulira College of Education, K12,540. Final year tuition fees only.

Adam Mwansa, year three of four years, Secondary School Art Teachers’ degree, Mufulira College of Education, K6,900.

Insakartists, K5,000 towards art materials for ten-day International Residency Programme for regional artists visit to Zambia.

Zambian Open University brochure K3,000 annual contribution; K4,000 cash and trophy to best fine art graduate, Chanda Mulenga.

Requests for support from VAC and NAC are on hold, as covid has delayed their plans.

C

Since May 2020 we have been negotiating with Rhodes Park Developments (RPD) for allocation of a site for a third storage container, as we are short of space for all our artworks. RPD finally allocated a site near the existing containers, and offered to prepare a foundation on which the container will rest. This has yet to be done, and in the meantime the costs of containers have doubled. Hopefully we will get our much needed container in place in 2021.

D

In June we suffered a major disaster, when on June 2nd our vice-chairperson, William Miko was rushed to hospital with a medical emergency and two days later his left leg was amputated below the knee. We were devastated, but glad to be able to help in a small way to speed his recovery.

Mr Miko has since shown his indomitable spirit and courage, and we welcome him back as his usual inspiring self.

E

In September, EXCO committee member, Mrs Shenda Zukas proposed we hold a competition for aspiring young artists, with generous awards, and a sales exhibition. The committee agreed, but before we could go much further, Mr Miko proposed it be called The Cynthia Zukas Young Artists’ Award’ competition.

I was surprised and honoured that the executive committee agreed and also suggested it be an annual event. Committee members and gallery staff organised and on-line entry system (due to the covid situation) and artists aged between 15 and 30 years submitted images of their works, from which the best were selected for exhibition and judging. The response was amazing, both in numbers of applicants and quality of artworks. (See curator’s report.)

Finally, despite the coronavirus, Lechwe Trust has been able to carry on fulfilling its aims and objectives to support the visual arts in Zambia as best we can.

Thanks to the executive committee, the office, and the art gallery staff and their helpers.

Cynthia Zukas Chairperson

Gallery Visits

The gallery recorded 669 local and international visitors.

The learning institutions visited the gallery in 2020, namely: Northmead Secondary School, International School of Lusaka, and Zambian Open University.

Entry to the gallery is subject to adherence to Covid-19 guidelines.

Exhibitions

Art Lives On ii selling exhibition November 2019 – February 2020

The gallery held a selling exhibition for two art icons, Flinto Chandia and Lutanda Mwamba and proceeds from the sales were given to the respective families. This was the second time Lechwe Trust held an Art Lives On exhibition in honour of late Zambian artists, as well as assisting their families with proceeds from the sales. 

Vice-Chairperson Mr Miko and Chairperson Mrs Zukas at the Art Lives On ii opening..

Speakers at the opening event

Mrs Cynthia S. Zukas – Lechwe Trust chairperson Mr Bill Saunders – CEO of BDO

Mr William Miko – Lechwe Trust vice-chairperson was the master of ceremony Makeda Mwamba – Lutanda’s daughter represented both families.

Donation for the collection

BDO bought a sculpture “The Ostrich, 2017” and donated it to the gallery. The artwork is now on permanent display at the gallery entrance.

Sales

Visitors (Art Lives On ii Exhibition)

One hundred and seventy one people were in attendance during the official opening. An additional 468 visited the gallery thereafter. Among the visitors from the time the exhibition opened on 7th November 2019 to its closure on 20th February 2020 were five learning institutions: International School of Lusaka, the Italian School, the American International School, Chalimbana University, and Zambian Open University.

Women’s exhibition (Heritage) March 2020 – June 2020

Exhibition Opening

Lechwe Trust hosted a ‘Women in Art’ discussion meeting at the Lechwe Trust Art Gallery on 8th March, 2020. The objective of the meeting was to discuss challenges that women artist face, and meet Mrs Zukas Lechwe Trust Chairperson. In attendance were proprietors from other galleries, art collectors, artists and art teachers. This meeting coincided with International Women’s Day. After a brief welcome from the Lechwe Trust chairperson, the thirty participants introduced themselves, as a way of getting to know one another and their different life experiences in the art world.

Of particular interest was the video in which Mrs Zukas was a guest on a television programme where she talked about art and crafts. The objective of the discussion was to get the women

artists to share their problems and provide encouragement on how to balance their art with their many other societal roles.

At the closing, the women created a group which hopefully will steer their artistic activities in the future. Lechwe Trust Art Gallery is open as a place where women in art could meet for such activities and planning. The backdrop for this meeting was an exhibition of the trust’s collected works by women artists. In addition, an invitation was extended to women artists represented in the collection to brings additional works for a possible sale exhibition. Five artists took up the offer and their works were displayed on the walls of the outside verandah.

Display

The gallery also displayed 13 additional works by Nukwase Tembo, Carol Aslin, Mulenga Mulenga, Roonie Mushipe and Alison Street. These artworks were for direct sale by the artists.

Visitors (Women’s Exhibition)

30 people were present during the opening and 147 visited the gallery during the exhibition.

Selection from the Collection (Heritage) July 2020 – November 2020

The gallery exhibited works in the collection that had not being exhibited for a long time, together with recently acquired artworks. The exhibition featured, amongst others, Lechwe Trust graduates Godfrey Setti, Patrick Mumba, William Miko, Elisha Zulu, and Angela Ninda.

Visitors

During the course of the exhibition, 204 people visited. Some students came from Northmead Secondary School, and as a result a few subsequently participated in the CZYAA competition (see below). One of them, Chikondi Mwale was chosen to exhibit.

CZYAA Exhibition (selling exhibition) November – January 2020.

The executive committee of Lechwe Trust proposed the initiative to support and give a platform to young emerging artists to exhibit at the gallery. This would take the form of a competition conducted online. The competition was to be named after the Lechwe Trust Chairperson Cynthia Zukas and be an annual event: The Cynthia Zukas Young Artists Award, Emerging Artist Award Competition 2020 (CZYAA). Seventy-four artists responded to the call out. A sub- committee and the gallery staff shortlisted the fifty-four finalists and handed them to the adjudicators.

Adjudication

A panel of seven independent adjudicators, namely Mrs Cynthia Zukas, Mrs Charity Salasini (chief adjudicator) Ms Charlotte Lorenz, Mr Chilambwe Lwao, Mr Mulenga Chafilwa, Mr Chanda Mwenya, and Mr Guy Phiri selected the four prize winners: 1st, 2nd, two joint 3rd.

Exhibition opening and Prize giving Ceremony

The chairperson announced the CZYAA prize winners and gave them award certificates. She thanked and encouraged all artists who participated in the competition, and wished them well.

Emmanuel Chibaye receiving his award winning certificate from Mrs Zukas.

CZYAA Award Winners

First Prize             K10,000 – Mwamba Chikwemba,

Second prize        K4,000 – Emmanual Chibaye

Third prize            K2,000 – David Unene

Third prize            K2,000 – Lazarina Matuta

Visitors (CZYAA Exhibition)

Guests for the opening 107, and 106 more visited the gallery since the exhibition opened to the public. The exhibition is due to be taken down in late January 2021.

Covid-19 Closure

Due to the increase of Covid-19 cases at the time, the gallery closed to the public in April 2020 and re-opened on 12th May 2020. Gallery staff was documenting the collection during the period of closure.

Networking

The curator was invited by National Arts Council to the launch of the K30 Million artist empowerment fund.

Gallery staff visited Mr Chilambwe’s art collection, Chaminuka art collection, Zeela art gallery, Zambia Open University Fine art Expo and the Zambia Art and Design Show (ZADS) 2020.

Networking Outcome

Through networking the gallery builds a rapport with other art institutions and expands the knowledge base of gallery staff. The gallery was able to send the CZYAA call out to institutions notice boards and social media platforms and the response from emerging artist was very good.

Private Art Collections and Events

The Chaminuka Collection

The collection features 69 Artists, despite Mr and Mrs Sardanis opening their home for the public to see, it remains very personal to them. The collection is divided in two, tribal art and contemporary art. At the time of the visit, with the absence of a printed catalogue, visitors use an application Art@Chaminuka which is online catalogue.

The Chilambwe Collection

Though unintentional, Mr Chilambwe’s interest in interior design saw him collecting art for aesthetics and history. Mr Chilambwe selects from Zambian artist and artists in neighbouring countries. He explores different curating techniques maximizing his available space.

Zeela Art Gallery

The Zeela collection is more on social commentary. It is more inclined to religious themes. Eddie Mumba is one of the most prominent artist in their sculpture collection among other artists. The gallery though open to the public is more private and sentimental to the owners.

Zambia Open University Fine Art Expo

The expo showcases the growth of Fine Art in Zambia, with many graduating with degrees in the field. Among those graduating in the 2020 intake was Gift Nondo, a Lechwe Trust graduate.

Zambia Art and Design Show (ZADS)

This is a platform for the creative industry to exhibit their art, products on display range from big sculptures to tiny crafts.

Visibility

The website is active and up to date with all gallery activities.

The gallery created an Instagram page which currently has 254 followers. The gallery Facebook page has 1, 241 followers.

Road signage about the gallery is still pending.

Storage

We await the building of the concrete plinths for additional storage container by the property manager.

Framing

As custodians of the collection, there is urgent need to frame Akwilas Simpasa’s “Untitled, 1972” and Allen’s Waterfalls diary, these works are vulnerable in their current state.

2021 Exhibition Calendar

We would like to plan the exhibition calendar in harmony with EXCO.

Documentation

The exercise is on-going, so far 120 works have been documented. 9 sculptures and the rest are paintings and prints. 2 prints have damaged frames that need to be replaced (Cat 28 Clement Mfuzi, “Drum beat”, 1992 and Cat 21 Lutanda Mwamba, “Salaula”, 1990. and David Chibwe’s “Kaunda Square township”, 2012 did not have a catalogue number assigned to it.

Acquisitions and Donations

The gallery received five sculptures, and eight paintings for the collection in 2020. Please see the details overleaf.

Acquisitions 2020.

Alex Nkazi Curator.