Work in Progess - Danny Chiyesu

The first thing which hit me when I visited Kalingalinga was the ‘Life must go on’ attitude among the residents. Despite the place being a poor area many went on with their lives hoping for the best in the near future. Kids, in general, were a marvel to watch as they freely danced, played football, netball or other games. Another subject I chose was the saloons, traders and craftspeople along the main road and streets. The colourful plastic containers were turned into ‘geysers’ or heating elements. Others were converted into washing basins. High-quality metal gates, door, window frames, wood furniture were made and sold. Innovation was all over. Kalingalinga reminds me of my home town compounds. From now on after this workshop, I will do my own story in Ndola.

 I also took time to talk a few old people who told me about the roots of Kalingalinga. According to them ‘Kalingalinga’ is a Nyanja word a person who moves from place to place, denoting its previous role as a transit area. It is a land of two abandoned farms belonging to a Mr Duddia and a Mr Mendo, who lived in the area in the 1950s.

Stories of Kalingalinga - Edith Chilliboy

Kalingalinga is a place in which people craft their hopes and dreams through manual labour. For me, the hands became a symbol of this hard-working community and a homage to the individual.

I am a self-taught photographer that decided to follow my passion to find fulfilment as an individual as well as expressing myself through what I see and how it affects me and the environment around me.

Stories of Kalingalinga - Margaret Malawo Mumba

Stories of Kalingalinga - David Daut Makala

Stories of Kalingalinga - Muchemwa Sichone

Project 1:

Project 2:

In this project, I am attempting to tell a story about the people of Kalingalinga and their lifestyle. I have encountered locals in the compound who shared their sensitive and touching stories with me. The Stories of Kalingalinga Workshop has taught me how photography can create a visual story about a certain type of life and what it can do to society in small and large scales.

At first I had different reasons for wanting to be part of this project but days after attending the workshop and being in the meetings and conversations, I realised my reasons for wanting to be a part of it had changed, I then wanted to learn, to help and to gather detailed information and history about Kalingalinga to create my project. Throughout the workshop, my perspectives on how I look at photography changed. But more importantly, I learnt the way photography is not only about great images, but rather the way it influences the way people look at the world.

Stories of Kalingalinga - Dennis Mubanga

The Entrepreneurs

The Kalingalinga stories project was a great way and time of introspection for me in that it made me think and be able to add my creativity and emotion in the work. My project was inspired by people who 'hustle' to make their lives better despite being at a disadvantage in society, where the cost of living and doing business is high. However, still being able to manage and survive amidst the many hardships the community is facing. My main reason of doing this project was for me to showcase power, the power within the people to overcome and endure the hardships and still be able to pull up a genuine smile and still have hope for a brighter future.

This project has taught me that there's still hope for humanity in general. That it takes one person to bring change in an environment and that person can be me. What I choose to do with my gifting impacts the whole community and Nation at large.

I am a Zambian born photographer based in Lusaka. I pride myself to be a photographer who aims to portray people in their environment especially the rich and famous. I am a passionate photographer and I run a photography and video company called UMUBANGA Media.

Stories of Kalingalinga - Zenzele Chulu

Schematic Tantrums

At this breathtaking pace, Kalingalinga will become history in the few years to come, and the memory will linger on in the photographic narrative taken in this workshop. It is history in the making through images, and being part of it makes me proud to project my perspective by focusing on mobility found or existing in Kalinglinga.

My focus was drawn on the wheelbarrow found at the Charcoal market, near the main school ground. There are two wheelbarrows for the market, belonging to the collective of charcoal sellers used strictly for delivering charcoal around Kalingalinga. The wheelbarrows are mostly used early in the morning to do deliveries, but beyond deliveries, my interest drew me further to get close-ups of wheelbarrows to magnify details of its engineering and mechanism, this revealed another dimension to create images that made up new interpretations, also relating to my painting practice of schematic tantrums.

The close-ups are by-product of the whole process bringing a new body of work, celebrating schematic tantrums, expressing the same lines and dots found in my paintings, creating abstract expressions out of the realistic images. This was the best improvisation to come out of the shooting process, stumbling on the images that would happen at an opportune moment of shooting.