Artist Namalomba exhibits in USA
Visual artist Kenneth Namalomba is currently in the United States where he is exhibiting his works.
He said in an interview on Wednesday that he represented the country at the 6th Winter National Cultural Embassy showcase, which was held at Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Centre.
The event was held in collaboration with the Embassy of the Republic of Malawi in Washington DC.
Namalomba, who has held several exhibitions in the country, is today having a solo exhibition at the embassy. He will also hold another exhibition on Monday.
“The event yesterday (Wednesday) was great. We had a lot of people appreciating my works as well as wanting to come to my exhibition on Friday [today],” Namalomba said.
He said one of the appreciators, who happens to be an artist, referred to him as a Modern Picasso.
“I felt honoured. It’s a step towards international recognition and to be part of it in the capital is a dream come true. It can’t get better than that,” Namalomba said.
The artist said recently that he wanted to give visual art a different meaning by coming up with quality works.
During the event on Wednesday, Namalomba exhibited, among others, Tales of An African Child artwork.
In the artwork, Namalomba depicts the African child in a deeper way than the stereotypical picture.
Namalomba tries to show the conflict that exists between the inner self and the person the society expects one to be, which is characterised by a mask to show the conflict, and a sealed mouth to show the lack of voice in the people.
This is, Namalomba said, is because he wants to use art to speak for the voiceless.
“I feel honoured by the embassy to be invited to such an event and be given a platform to expose my art to the world,” the visual artist said.
Namalomba was one of the artists who participated in the Malawi/German Art Symposium, which run under the theme Myths of Malawi.
The symposium brought together German and Malawian artists, who produced different artworks which were exhibited in Blantyre and Lilongwe and then Germany.
Namalomba works as a full time artist and paints with varying mediums, oils, acrylic and watercolour.
He is also a sculptor and ceramist.
His artistic portfolio includes portrait painting, realism, naturalism, cubism and abstract expressionism.
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