Curating as Collective Cares
We nurture Zambia's unseen creativity through peer-led curation, growing slowly, replacing competition with solidarity for lasting change through mutual care.
Our Approach
Approaching curation as a practice of care, we build a hybrid space for conversation, research, and collaboration. Physically, we facilitate studio visits and events; digitally, we feature artists and their works through a peer-curated website as well as social media. We grow slowly, valuing critical friendship and solidarity over competition.
Simple ideas
Peer-curated features, artist pages and shared resources - simple tools for solidarity, nurtured through intimate conversations and studio visits.
Lasting impact
Artists and curators gain paid opportunities, visibility, and community. Zambia's arts ecosystem shifts from competition to lasting solidarity and collective growth.
FAQs
What exactly is Collective Cares and what does it aim to achieve?
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Collective Cares is a peer-led curatorial initiative that frames curation as a practice of care. It creates a hybrid physical-digital space for conversation, research, and collaboration to increase visibility, infrastructure, and support for contemporary arts in Zambia.
How can artists benefit?
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To Zambia-based artists:
With a small fee, we can create a dedicated artist page that you can rent, where you can share your bio and work images. You can potentially list a selection of works in our “Shop” page too. Collective Cares team will curate and manage the page for you, providing a short text critically framing your in today’s context, based on the images and materials provided by you and conversations with you. The page offers visibility, archiving, and creating opportunities and a sense of belonging within a caring community.
To writers and curators:
We are inviting writers and curators to contribute critical pieces of writing or other forms of documentation i.e audio, visuals as we build our archive and collection of contemporary Zambian Art History.
If you are interested in collaborating with us, please get in touch.
What types of physical and digital events and resources does Collective Cares provide?
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We host conversations, studio visits, writings, and event facilitations. Digitally, a roughly monthly curated feature showcases peer-selected artists/artworks with texts. Our “Opportunities” page lists our upcoming events, as well as relevant open calls and Zambian arts events.
Who leads Collective Cares and how is the initiative sustained financially?
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Co-led by curators Luyando Muleya and Naoko Mabon, alongside a network of peers. We rely on crowdfunding, modest artists’ page rentals, and small sales margins. Transparent budgeting ensures fees for all contributors and slow, sustainable growth.
Our Team
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Luyando Muleya
CO-LEAD
Luyando Muleya (b. Lusaka, based in Livingstone) is a curator and researcher. Using peer education models, Luyando is currently curating Sikatongo’s Garden, a mobile, interactive platform operating at the intersection of ecology and technology. Sikatongo’s Garden takes the form of a mobile museum, it plants living parallel gathering spaces in site-specific heritage sites across Zambia. IG -
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Naoko Mabon
CO-LEAD
Naoko Mabon (b. Fukuoka, based in Oban, Scotland) is a curator. Driven by her own lived experience as an ethnic minority in the UK and the sense of urgency/responsibility towards planetary issues, Naoko uses arts as effective tools to generate relationships and changes for present and upcoming generations. She was an artist-in-resident of Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre (LuCAC) in 2025. IG
