22/02/2021
It's John Latham’s 100th Birthday tomorrow!
To celebrate his birth in Zambia, 1921, Agness and Lawrence Yombwe of Wayi Wayi Art, Livingstone, host a live zoom event with John's family and artists based locally and in the UK, which marks and maps this anniversary and relates it to creative initiatives in contemporary Livingstone.
AFRICAN INCIDENTALISM - Feb 23rd 4-5pm https://bit.ly/3aMXyc1
Click here on Tuesday 23rd February at 4pm (UK time) to join the live zoom event: https://hackclub.zoom.us/j/94537057359?pwd=aUJUdjhqZmRiSTZGRTFRcEU4VkpwUT09
In 1975 John Latham coined the phrase 'Incidental Person', an artist who engages in wider contexts such as industry, politics and education and is "a resource and an instrument of change ... for future societies everywhere."
Several years ago, the artist Anne Bean, also born in Livingstone, decided she would travel to spend several weeks in the town and be there on this 100th anniversary. Her quest was simply to be in the town with the notion of the 'incidental person' as a catalyst to ignite ideas. Through a series of connections, Anne met the artist Agness Yombwe and discussed the many expansive ways that artists can engage with society.
In a radical artistic response to the devastating pandemic that had created crushing economic circumstances, threatening the livelihood of entire families in Livingstone, Agness approached the Senior Chief Mukuni of the Toka Leya people to ask for land, which the Royal Establishment gave her to activate the 'Creatives Village', an innovative project that integrates artist initiatives with the planting of crops and trees, training opportunities and employment.
To mark this anniversary Agness Yombwe and Benjamin Mibenge, will plant two trees in the Creatives Village with the names of Anne Bean and John Latham.
Programme
1) Introduction by Andrew Mulenga , Art Historian, Lecturer in the Zambian Open University Fine art Department and PhD candidate, Rhodes University, South Africa
2) Presentation by Agness Yombwe about the Creatives Village
3) Reminiscence by Noa Latham, son of John Latham and Professor at University of Calgary, Department of Philosophy
4) Presentation by Harriet Latham, artist and granddaughter of John Latham
5) Livingstone Connections by John-Paul Latham, son of John Latham and Reader in Geomechanics at Imperial College London
6) Performance by Serah Chibombwe, artist in residence, Wayi Wayi Studios Serah Chibombwe is mentored by Anne Bean, Anawana Haloba, Agness and Lawrence Yombwe
7) Introduction and short film Falling in Love with a Chair by Anne Bean
8) Meeting Incidentalism, a talk by Sarah Andrews, artist and human rights lawyer with Avaaz
9) Comments by Benjamin Mibenge, local environmentalist and artist
John Latham was born on 23rd February, 1921, in Livingstone, Zambia. To mark his centenary, on 23rd February 2021, Agness and Lawrence Yombwe of Wayiwayi Art Studios & Gallery, Livingstone, will host an event that marks and maps this anniversary and relates it to creative initiatives in contemporary...
