Art in Zambia 1: Tribute to Fackson Kulya. A brief and incomplete biography of Fakson Kulya, some reproductions of
his work and some observations about his art.
Post by Gijsbert Witkamp
First published: 11 November 2011
Last update: 15 July 2015
In
deciding what or who should be the first of this blog serie labelled “Art in Zambia” I choose Fackson Kulya. I have two reasons for this choice. One
reason is personal and perhaps incidental. Fackson was the first Zambian artist
I got to know in 1975 when I started my five year spell as full-time artist in
Zambia. The other reason is neither personal nor incidental. Fackson, had he
still lived, today would be well in his sixties. He died around the year
2000, probably somewhere in the Luanshya country side where his village was. He came from that area, a Lamba by tribe.
Fackson does not deserve to “disappear without a trace” out of the
Zambian art scene.
The
significance of Fackson Kulya as an artist is acknowledged by his inclusion in
the ranks of artists with a dedicated page in the book “Art in Zambia” (2004) by Gabriel Ellison (extensively aided by the
Book Publishing Committee of the National Zambia Visual Art Council).
He
was a self-styled artist, a sculptor, graphic artist and painter. Most of his
sculptures are in wood, but in 1975 he started out in bronze casting. His graphic
career started in the same year when he, prompted by me, became one of the founding
members of the Lusaka Artists Group. The following year Patrick Mweemba and
David Chibwe joined and later on Style Kunda became a regular member. The
members of the Lusaka Artists Group, in 1977 renamed the Zambia Artists
Association, worked together at a studio at the Evelyn Hone College. The space
had been made available by the College and the workshop was supported by the Art Centre
Foundation.
The
members, by working together in an accessible place became visible and known.
The Lusaka art scene, in those days, was very small - we are talking about less then twenty people with a more than incidental professional productive involvement in the visual arts. The group, or its individual members, received smaller and larger commissions; working together helped to create
a conducive and innovative atmosphere and a number of material problems (lack of art materials) were solved by processing locally available materials.
It was in this setting and
period that Fackson could develop into a mature artist. He was
commissioned to make a relief in wood depicting the eagle which is a symbol for
Zambia on the Zambian flag.
He also was one of the artists
who did the mural paintings at the Longacres market. Several collectors
commissioned or bought medium sized wooden sculptures by him; usually done in
mukwa; mostly about “traditional” themes of the mother and child type and executed
in some sort of a conventional primitivism.
His
more original work was graphic or in paint. In these media it was easier for him
to allow his at times bizarre imagination to directly express itself in
pictures that often were fantastic, humoristic and rooted in folklore. Fackson,
other than his academically trained colleagues circulating in the higher strata
of society, is best described as a folk artist. These were his roots and that
was his way of life. The blessings and curses of formal art education bypassed him.
In the eighties he returned to
Luanshya rural. Town life was too hard for him. He continued, however, to make
art. By that time Lusaka had one permanent gallery. Its name was Mpapa Art
Gallery. It at first was located at Chachacha Road and later moved to a fine
location, at Mwilwa Road, in the Rhodes Park area.
In the Gallery storeroom, in 1991 and
1992, I found three paintings by Fackson, perhaps unsalable leftovers. Or deposited by him in search of a buyer. All of
the same size, in the same medium and stylistically similar. I bought them and
one part of this trilogy is represented below.
Fackson
surely was not a socialite. He is not remembered because of all the committees
he was a member of, or because of his social networking skills. He was not a committee member and his social behaviour could be awkward. He
was never nominated for any of the awards that presently are handed out by the
National Arts Council. People like Fackson are not important enough, their lives
are too far removed from the artistic in-crowd. He does not rank among the
big names that dominate art in Zambia. But he was an original artist, making imagery
his own way. He did not try to please or provoke, to be fashionable or
unfashionable. He just made pictures as he liked it; the way musicians like
Short Mazabuka, Green Mamba or Mashombe Blue Jeans make their music. Folk music
of a syncretic kind, yet very Zambian. Fackson’s work is not contrived, it is honest and has
locality. It has zambianess about it
– something hard to describe but you can feel it, coming from the heart.
Note: More information about Fackson is in the ZamArt Blog series Zambia Art Chronicles, now published. In that article a personal version of our encounter. I also have written an article juxtaposing Fackson Kulya and Henry Tayali.
Feel free to add on to this post about
Fakson Kulya. You can use the comment or e-mail options. If you have an image by
him that you feel should be in the Zambian Virtual National Art Collection - sent in
as a comment or e-mail attachment.