Article
Kate Naluyele
Kate Naluyele was born in 1976. She currently lives and works in Lusaka, Zambia. She has exhibited throughout her home country where she has had numerous awards including winner of the Ngoma Award for Most Outstanding Female artist in Zambia in 1999 and finalist in the Julia Malunga award for the country’s most outstanding female artist in 2004. She has also found international acclaim: her work was included in Germany’s EXPO 2000, Germany Portrait, 2002 and she has exhibited in United States, Sweden, Australia, Belgium and the UK.
Naluyele graduated in 1994 from Chinsali Girls Secondary School. Financially unable to continue studying at this period she worked for some years as an artist and graphic designer. From 2001 - 2003 she was made a committee member of the Zambia National Visual Arts Council and was also involved with the Women in Visual Arts Association, Zambia. At this time Naluyele also worked extensively with Pestalozzi Children’s Centre – an orphanage in Kasisi promoting childrens’ welfare through art. A trained counsellor she was involved with teaching and therapy for underprivileged children.
As a strong female role model in the visual arts her status offers empowerment to the traditionally suppressed voice of Zambian women. In Zambia there is a prevailing lack of interest and appreciation of art. It is more readily accepted as a recreational hobby than as a recognized profession. Naluyele is committed to promoting changes to these attitudes. She is certain that painting can be a vehicle to influence others and can potentially ease economic and social difficulty:
‘When a person allows himself or herself to use their creativity to make artworks that are economically viable, I believe poverty can be reduced and this can help in the fight against HIV/ AIDS...’
‘I comment on social issues through my work. A piece of artwork has no limit to what message it is capable of conveying. When people look at an artwork, they have the freedom to understand it to the fullest capacity of their thinking’.
Kate Naluyele interviewed by Kennedy Gondwe
Painting, sculpture and the use of traditional craft are central to Naluyele’s work. Her paintings in oil and acrylic are traditional in style. Her representational landscapes in particular can be compared to that of 18th century European painting. In terms of subject her paintings reference specific events from her own memories - often narrating scenes of rural Zambian communities and the savannah landscape she grew up and studied in. The painting ‘Mother and Child’ 1998, depicts a homogenous pastoral existence where a mother and her children are shown working on daily familial chores.
Naluyele considers her Zambian heritage an important part of her identity as an artist. She has conducted research into still culturally relevant initiation ceremonies and their sacred emblems and patterns. These traditional motifs appear in Naluyele’s painting The Mask with the Meaning of Life, 1998. In this piece, figures are portrayed dancing across the surface in traditional masks against a vivid background of hot colour. The painting Mamma’s Identity continues this cultural thread through the significance given to pattern and colour in the dress of the central Mother figure.
Naluyele resumed her studies and in 2003 gained a diploma for Sociology and Art and Design at the Evelyn Honen College in Lusaka.
In 2004 she won the Visiting Arts Annual International Fellowship award and began a residency at Delfina studios in London. This gave Naluyele the opportunity to work for nine months in her own studio space, engaging with other artists. This culminated in an exhibition in 2005 at the Delfina Skylight Gallery.
‘ …I can grow and gain more confidence in exposing not only myself but also Zambian art. There is so much potential for Zambian art. I think learning how to sell ourselves and our works is one of the most critical factors of success’
Kate Naluyele 2004
As a strong female role model in the visual arts her status offers empowerment to the traditionally suppressed voice of Zambian women. In Zambia there is a prevailing lack of interest and appreciation of art. It is more readily accepted as a recreational hobby than as a recognized profession. Naluyele is committed to promoting changes to these attitudes. She is certain that painting can be a vehicle to influence others and can potentially ease economic and social difficulty:
‘When a person allows himself or herself to use their creativity to make artworks that are economically viable, I believe poverty can be reduced and this can help in the fight against HIV/ AIDS...’
‘I comment on social issues through my work. A piece of artwork has no limit to what message it is capable of conveying. When people look at an artwork, they have the freedom to understand it to the fullest capacity of their thinking’.
Kate Naluyele interviewed by Kennedy Gondwe
Painting, sculpture and the use of traditional craft are central to Naluyele’s work. Her paintings in oil and acrylic are traditional in style. Her representational landscapes in particular can be compared to that of 18th century European painting. In terms of subject her paintings reference specific events from her own memories - often narrating scenes of rural Zambian communities and the savannah landscape she grew up and studied in. The painting ‘Mother and Child’ 1998, depicts a homogenous pastoral existence where a mother and her children are shown working on daily familial chores.
Naluyele considers her Zambian heritage an important part of her identity as an artist. She has conducted research into still culturally relevant initiation ceremonies and their sacred emblems and patterns. These traditional motifs appear in Naluyele’s painting The Mask with the Meaning of Life, 1998. In this piece, figures are portrayed dancing across the surface in traditional masks against a vivid background of hot colour. The painting Mamma’s Identity continues this cultural thread through the significance given to pattern and colour in the dress of the central Mother figure.
Naluyele resumed her studies and in 2003 gained a diploma for Sociology and Art and Design at the Evelyn Honen College in Lusaka.
In 2004 she won the Visiting Arts Annual International Fellowship award and began a residency at Delfina studios in London. This gave Naluyele the opportunity to work for nine months in her own studio space, engaging with other artists. This culminated in an exhibition in 2005 at the Delfina Skylight Gallery.
‘ …I can grow and gain more confidence in exposing not only myself but also Zambian art. There is so much potential for Zambian art. I think learning how to sell ourselves and our works is one of the most critical factors of success’
Kate Naluyele 2004
Author: Cate Rickards
Bio
2003 Sociology (Dip), Evelyn Hone College, Lusaka, Zambia
2002 Art & Design, Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts, Lusaka, Zambia
1998 Sound Engineering - Apprenticeship, dB Studios, Lusaka, Zambia
1996 Cartoon Animation - First Level - under UNICEF
2002 Art & Design, Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts, Lusaka, Zambia
1998 Sound Engineering - Apprenticeship, dB Studios, Lusaka, Zambia
1996 Cartoon Animation - First Level - under UNICEF
Works
SOLO EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation,
2006
2005 The Blow, Delfina Sky-light Gallery, London, UK
2004 Kate´s Art Diary, British Council, Lusaka, Zambia
COLLECTIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation
Mbile (International Triangle Network)
Insaka (International Triangle Network)
British Council, Zambia
GROUP EXHIBITIONS (Selected)
Exhibition / Installation
2006 Insaka fundraising art exhibition, Lusaka, Zambia
2005 Twende (Let´s go!), Sun and Doves, London
2005 Expo 2005, Japan
2005 Academy Without Walls (AWW), moving images exhibition, Henry Tayali Art Gallery, Lusaka, Zambia
2004 Insaka International Art Exhibition, Lusaka, Zambia
2003 SADCC Art Exhibition, South Africa
2002 The Portrait, Germany
2002 Square of Equality iii, U.S.A
2000 Exposition 2000, Hanover, Germany
2000 Beyond Borders, U.S.A
2000 Square of Equality ii, Belgium
1999 Mbile International Art Exhibition, Lusaka, Zambia
1999 Women Show The Way, Sweden
1998 Square of Equality, Lusaka, Zambia
1998 Women Show the Way, Kunstein Gallery, Oslo, Norway
1998 Mbile International Art Exhibition, Lusaka, Zambia
Merits
2004 Residency: Delfina Studios, London
2004 Recipient of the Catholic Church Arts Award
2003 Residency: Insaka (International Triangle Art Network.), Siavonga, Zambia
2002 Recipient: Francophone 2nd prize
2002 Recipient: The Heidelberg Castle Portrait (Germany) Award to Zambia. IAA (intertionale gessellschaft der bildenden kunste (igbk)
1999 Residency: Mbile (International Triangle Art Network.), Siavonga, Zambia
1999 Recipient: Ngoma Award for most outstanding female artist, Lusaka, Zambia
1998 Residency: Mbile (International Triangle Art Network.), Siavonga, Zambia
1998 Finalist: Ngoma Awards for most promising artist, Lusaka, Zambia
2004 Recipient of the Catholic Church Arts Award
2003 Residency: Insaka (International Triangle Art Network.), Siavonga, Zambia
2002 Recipient: Francophone 2nd prize
2002 Recipient: The Heidelberg Castle Portrait (Germany) Award to Zambia. IAA (intertionale gessellschaft der bildenden kunste (igbk)
1999 Residency: Mbile (International Triangle Art Network.), Siavonga, Zambia
1999 Recipient: Ngoma Award for most outstanding female artist, Lusaka, Zambia
1998 Residency: Mbile (International Triangle Art Network.), Siavonga, Zambia
1998 Finalist: Ngoma Awards for most promising artist, Lusaka, Zambia
Www
Insaka International Artists Workshop
Insaka International Artists Workshop organises and promotes local and international artists to work together for fourteen days away from everyday busy life, in a peaceful environment where ARTISTS can experiment , share knowledge and experiences in the process of intercultural exchange and in the making of contemporary Art from artists of diverse backgrounds.
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