A TRIBUTE TO LUTANDA MWAMBA, ARTIST AND FRIEND.

A TRIBUTE TO LUTANDA MWAMBA, ARTIST AND FRIEND.

Lutanda Mwamba was a student in my class when I was teaching art at the International School of Lusaka in about 1982-3. He was a quiet and shy boy of about 14 or 15 years who appeared rather isolated among the other students. He was unusual, as I discovered subsequently. ISL students came from relatively wealthy backgrounds and many were from expatriate families. Lutanda's devoted and hard-working mother, a single parent, lived in Chilenje and the family were poor, but she was determined that her mixed race son should have the best education she could afford. Lutanda had a very long, very hot walk to school each day. This was but one of many things that put him at a disadvantage among his fellow students.

I noticed Lutanda at once as he showed a natural talent for drawing in my class. When I asked him about his future plans he told me that he hoped to be an electrical engineer. I suggested to him that art was a good way to make a living in a place like Zambia which offered at the time so few opportunities to people from poorer backgrounds, but Lutanda was set on his course. Another ISL teacher had told me of Lutanda's long walk to school and from time to time one or other of us would give him a lift back to his home. He never wanted to be taken all the way. I think that he was not given an easy time in Chilenje either, though he always had one very good friend there, another artist, David Chibwe. I had an unused bicycle at home and in the end I gave that to Lutanda for his school journey.

I was obliged to give up teaching as it did not fit in with my husband's work and I did not see Lutanda again for some years. A few years later I was working at Mpapa Gallery in the Pilcher Graphics building in Cha Cha Cha Road. One evening driving back from the Lusaka Showground I passed Lutanda and David Chibwe and recognised Lutanda at once, though he was now very tall and thin and had dreadlocks. He saw me also and came around to my home that same day. He told me that he had got his GCSE exams but had not been able to get any work at all apart from occasional gardening. He had left home and was finding it hard to afford food. He still wanted to become an electrical engineer.

I tried to help Lutanda find employment that was more appropriate for his qualifications and abilities but any job was hard to find. Not even Lewis Construction was able to help. Finally after consulting with my partners at Mpapa Gallery- Cynthia Zukas, Joan Pilcher and Patrick Mweemba, we decided to offer Lutanda a trial period as a gallery assistant. Also at this time Lutanda married his wife Mary, and they had their first child.

Lutanda was such an intelligent, hard-working, and able assistant that he very soon became indispensable to the gallery. There is no doubt in my mind that Lutanda played a very important part in the success of Mpapa Gallery and therefore in the success of Zambian artists and Zambian art at the time. What thrilled me was that in the context of the gallery, and through Lutanda's contact with artists like Patrick Mweemba, Henry Tayali, Style Kunda, and many others he began to experiment with art himself and very quickly became one of the best printmakers we had.

His talent and ability meant that he was offered a place at Reading University to study printmaking and the very generous Lechwe Trust was able to fund his further studies there.

Circumstances forced me to leave Zambia in 1994 and regretfully I lost contact with many friends and artists. In 2012, thanks to Cynthia Zukas, I was able to meet Lutanda, his wife, Mary, and his children at the Henry Tayali Gallery. It was a very happy and pleasant encounter that did my heart so much good. I was very proud of Lutanda and cared very much for him. The news of his death is deeply tragic and my thoughts are with his wife, Mary, and with his family and friends. He is a great loss to Zambia and to Zambian art.

I shall always treasure the gift that Lutanda and his family gave me.