For the fourth Studio Visit, Naoko Mabon virtually visited Lusaka-based artist Mwaba Chandia. They had a conversation focusing on Mwaba's two recent pieces, which were informed by materials from the natural surroundings of the artist, including seedpods and sheaths of trees.

In this second conversation event of Collective Cares, co-leads Luyando Muleya and Naoko Mabon met Livingstone-based mixed media artist Mutemwa Mukelebai. We activated Luyando’s Studio Visit with Mutemwa and discussed our reflections.

Luyando Muleya travelled to Mutemwa Mukelebai’s workshop in Livingstone. There, Luyando found an artist who doesn’t wait for German factories or foreign degrees. Mutemwa grinds lenses from old TV glass. Built a microscope he calls Ikasuwa - the last standing buffalo in a herd. He’s counted the spots on Jupiter with a homemade telescope.

Naoko Mabon visited Loliwe Phiri, an artist who specialises in humanitarian photography, to speak about Loliwe’s practice. Here is Naoko’s response to her visit and conversation with Loliwe in a form of short writing titled “Desire For Impact, Desire For Positive Change - Loliwe Phiri On Visual-storytelling”.

We are excited to share the first in our series of Studio Visit - a document of a conversation between Luyando Muleya and Lusaka-based artist Isaac Kalambata, held on 1 March 2026. Kalambata’s practice asks urgent questions: What knowledges have we been taught to dismiss as primitive? What might we learn from trees and healers? How do we make visible the absurdity at the heart of white power—the colonial statutes still active, the rituals we’ve naturalised as “democracy” and “Christianity,” the hierarchies that position some beliefs as superior to others?

A virtual gathering to mark the launch of a crowdfunding campaign for our new peer-led curatorial initiative for contemporary arts in Zambia: Collective Cares. We shared and discussed why we believe creating such a space is needed, and what we are planning in this initiative. This is a space for open dialogue and community support.