One thing that stands out about Lusaka is it’s vibrancy. There’s anticipation in the air, young, exciting, new, all things that feel inspirational. It is a city that has a large young population who want to contribute to the society they live in. You can see this in the hustle culture, young people buying, selling, creating in order to make a living. There’s a booming content creation scene utilizing online platforms, film, fashion and plays. Which ever way the young contribute to the arts in Lusaka just shows how committed they are to expressing themselves. When we narrow it down to art, the conversation is much deeper, the artists are there, but what are they really showing us?. Lusaka does a great deal of celebrating the artists who shaped what Zambian art is now but what is the scene doing for the artists today.
There’s multiple ways of looking at this, it could either be a lack of solidarity or celebration from society, or maybe the art is just not being consumed enough in an intentional and engaging way that appreciates and recognizes artists today. An additional view would be that the artists are not creating art that is engaging or relevant to the time. A lot of artists thrive in traditional art mediums like working with oil, acrylic, clay, and so on, a very conventional way of creating art. Artists are exploring abstract work and African traditional style paintings with a few portraying an already identified style that makes them recognizable without seeing their name. If you look closer, you may find some conceptual work tackling social issues but majority explore African tradition and memory.
What does this all mean?
Do Zambian artists need to explore outside ‘traditional art’? literally, and conceptually, Must they only create to challenge social issues? What about commissioned art and earning a living? And society’s role in consuming the art, is it all about catering to the times?
All those are factors that influence the style of art being shown in Lusaka today. An interesting thing to think about is what style identifiers will tell the story of Lusaka’s art scene in 2026 for anyone looking back.