Wall Street Journal I by Mwamba Mulangala

Wall Street Journal I by Mwamba Mulangala, 2020, Acrylic and print matter on board, 61cm x 46cm

Through nocturnal interviews and sketches on some lively Lusaka city streets, this playful work evokes metaphor by offering potentially powerful new ways to talk about prostitution with a focus on its connection to enterprise. Just like Wall Street, the home of the New York stock exchange and the historic headquarters of some of the largest US brokerages and investments; this work details that the prostitution industry amasses enormous revenue though it is never a legitimate business as it is always associated with crime, corruption, class, mass sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

Mwamba Mulangala (born 1976) has garnered the interest and patronage of a number of global institutions and private collections. Dedicated to both his own artistic growth and that of his country, Mwamba is recognized as one of Zambia’s most compelling and innovative artists. Mwamba is an active participant within the art community. He volunteers as a visual arts instructor for orphanages and has developed art projects for street kids, orphans and other vulnerable children in Zambia. Mwamba holds an Art Teachers’ Diploma from Evelyn Hone College, Zambia; a Bachelor’s Degree from Zambian Open University and a Masters in Fine Art from the University for the Creative Arts, UK. Mwamba serves on the organizing committee of Insaka International Artists’ Trust that fosters the development of art in Zambia, a non-profit artists’ initiative that is part of the Triangle Network. Previously he served as an executive committee member of the Zambia National Visual Arts Council. Mwamba also teaches visual arts at the American International School of Lusaka. He currently works and lives in Zambia.

Mwamba’s solo exhibitions include Body Language at Bella Luna in Massachusetts; Kumwesu (A place where one comes from) at the Dubuque Museum of Art, in Iowa, USA; Resonance Within at Lusaka National Museum in Zambia; and Unplugged at Bag Factory in Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been part of international group exhibitions in Heidelberg and Herxheim, Germany; New York City and Los Angeles, USA; Pucallpa and Lima, Perú; and Johannesburg, South Africa. Winner of the 1999 Henry Tayali Award for The Best Two Dimensional in Zambia. He was selected for the 2010 Dak’Art Biennale of Contemporary African Art in Dakar, Senegal. Mwamba has also undertaken artist residencies at Centro Selva in Perú, Can Serrat in Spain and Bag Factory in South Africa