Solace Of A Migrant

Zambia Mon 15-06-2009

Solace Of A Migrant
By Caroline Kaminju/AfricanColours.com

The word ‘migration’ means different things to different people. To some, it means the physical movement of people or animals from one place to another; to others, it can be a mental journey. Regardless of the type of relocation, or the reason why, it is not an easy transition.

Migrants collate and nurture objects and memories that remind them of who they are and where they came from, to make life more bearable in their new environment, find comfort and maintain their identity. Migrants also have to lose or change other things, voluntarily or otherwise – from relationships to culture to property.

^{Artist Stary Mwaba}

Zambian artist Stary Mwaba has done a lot of soul-searching and not shied away from showing emotions in his exhibition titled ‘Solace of a Migrant’ that has just concluded at Gallery Momo, Johannesburg, South Africa. His works present relocation as a process that can be quite stressful and it is only by taking a moment to stop and think about who you are that support can be found.

They capture what migrants go through in their new home, especially those moments that give them the strength to move forward. Whether one migrates physically or spiritually, the journey one takes has a bearing on where the person wants to be.

Eva by Stary Mwaba

^Eva

Most of his works depict people that the soft-spoken Stary knows in real-life situations. For instance, he depicts a guard’s dilemma of his own safety and those he cares for. In Mable holding Chola, a little girl clutches on to a Barbie doll that she has named Chola, after her younger sister.

Stary celebrates how the girl mimics her mother caring for Chola. This, he says, shows that the girl is preparing for the big task one day when she herself will look after her own children. Stary is quick to add that even though the painting can be interpreted that as a representation of how Africa is flooded by substandard products from China, ‘that’s not what is important. In most of my works, I am not trying to talk about the politics of the work rather; I try to celebrate their moments of solitude.’

Mable holding Chola by Stary Mwaba

^{Mable holding Chola}

His use of the ethnic cloth chitenge adds layers, texture and another dimension to the artwork. It also adds a splash of a colour pattern that would not have stood out had he painted the pattern. Chitenge is commonly used in some African communities to swathe babies against their mothers’ back.

Most of the guests present during the exhibition opening agreed that his works are vibrant. His use of warm colours and the juxtaposition between the people and their feelings shows that he contemplates what he does. He combines realism and surrealism. Examples include Eva where a woman is plaiting a young girl’s hair and Womba where a woman grinds maize using a stone. The topics he chooses to paint are what people in Zambia can easily relate to.

^{Traditional Healer (Mwana Po)}

Mwana Po borders on the other extreme. Mwana Po, Stary explains, is a traditional dancer who wears a mask during the circumcision ceremony and possesses spiritual powers. Practiced by the Chokwe people of Zambia, Congo and some parts of Angola, the mask is worn by a man who disguises himself as a woman.

During the dance, it is believed that Mwana Po gets into a trance and communicates ‘wise messages’. ‘It is a spiritual being that came from the graveyard to come and teach us (the living). They are wise beings because they have lived and gone beyond the grave,’ Stary says.

His inspiration for this painting came after his mother’s death in 1998. For Stary, his mother is witnessing his initiation from being a child to a mature adult; he wishes his mother had been present in person during the exhibition.

Stary’s career as an artist started almost by accident. After completing high school in 1995, he could not start college because his results got lost. He had to get a job quickly in order to support his siblings and his sick mother after his father died in 1994. Later in the year, he got a job as a peer counselor at the Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (PPAZ). Even when his results came out a year later they were not complete since he only got marks for five subjects instead of seven.

That did not deter him from pursuing his career. Before his father died, Stary had drawn a portrait of his father that his mother used to carry around in her purse. She showed the drawing to Kamwi, a restaurant owner. Kamwi liked it and decided to give Stary his old stock of paints.

Despite being weighed down with family responsibilities, Stary would paint every night under candlelight; since they did not have electricity. ‘I would stay awake to avoid thinking about the troubles I was going through.’ It was probably during these moments that he found solace in expressing his feelings by painting.

Womba by Stary Mwaba

^Womba

Stary later showed his works to Kamwi, who suggested he exhibited them in a group show for artists in Kasama. They sold out. Stephanie Gabriel, a teacher at one of the international schools in Lusaka, bought some of his paintings and offered him a posting as an art teacher despite the fact that he had not trained as one. ‘She told me to ‘teach what I do and how I do it’.’

It was at this time that he was convinced to take up art as a career. ‘It was a difficult decision to make because I was torn between staying behind with my mum and taking up the job.’ His mother encouraged him to take up the offer. Around the same time, he and Lutanda Mwamba met at a workshop.

Stary asked Lutanda if he could teach him how to paint, to which Lutanda said that he ‘would help him learn how to see’. He later suggested to Stary to move to Lusaka, some 800 km from Kasama his hometown.

Stary, together with other artists, stayed at the Henry Tayali Art Gallery within the Lusaka showground. Lutanda became his mentor, gave him drawing materials and books which Stary totally immersed himself in. Lutanda drew up a daily program and they were expected to do drawings everyday for two years, like at an informal school.

In 1998, Stary’s mother died. ‘I felt in so many ways that I [had] abandoned her…that I [had] left her to die, but on the other hand, it made me more focused than ever because I knew that she wanted me to succeed and I was in Lusaka for a reason and I had to be serious about what I was doing.’ That is why the Mwana Po painting is close to his heart since it reflects this time of his life.

After this, his situation has improved. He has travelled to Dublin, Kenya, London, and Tokyo. One of his major achievements was in Trinidad and Tobago where he did his artist in residency and the ‘Crossing Over’ exhibition in 2005. ‘I decided to go to a place where my work will not look strange.’ Maybe that is why the exhibition was a sell out.

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Your Comments

Dr John Sendama: I discovered my fellow country man's art through your post. Thanks.

Chikonjiwe: may you please write what each picture means to you and what it represents. when it was done and what you used for it. And more description please. but overall BRILLIANT :) P.S on the Womba picture

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