Pale, Pale Once I Caught a Fish Alive by Mulenga J Mulenga

Pale, Pale Once I Caught a Fish Alive by Mulenga J Mulenga, 2023, Acrylic, copper leaf, colored paper and charcoal on canvas, 47.2in x 39in.

This work explores the idea of play, a source of comfort in a complex environmental merging it with mythological elements suggesting a harmonious relationship between children and nature.

Mulenga J Mulenga is a multimedia visual artist who was born in 1987 in Lusaka, Zambia. She works across disciplines such as painting, sculpture, installation, drawings, Photography and performance art. In 2019, she was awarded the most outstanding Female Visual in Zambia during the National Ngoma Awards ceremony by the National Arts Council. Recently she attended a 3-month residence program at Gasworks, London and she participated in the Sanaa exhibition which is part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival in Australia. She is a 2015Asikointernational School Alumni under CCA Lagos and attended the summer school of International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Austria in 2015. Mulenga’s works considers current and historical representations of female black bodies within the context of post-colonial Zambia, specifically the ways in which deeply rooted social roles and identities are reproduced and reinforced throughout every stage of life. Mulenga works across painting, sculpture, photography, installation and performance, to revisit and reimagine old and new narratives that connect themes of gender and socio-cultural discourses within the legacy of colonialism. She has exhibited at Calabar Gallery.