John Latham at 100: African Incidentalism

15 February 2021

As part of a week of tributes to John Latham's centenary, please join for an hour-long live zoom event entitled 'African Incidentalism: the context is half the work’. Latham was born on 23rd February, 1921, in Livingstone, Zambia. On 23rd February 2021, Agness and Lawrence Yombwe of Wayiwayi Art Studios & Gallery will host an event that marks and maps this anniversary and relates it to creative initiatives in contemporary Livingstone.

Tue Feb 23, 2021 4pm (GMT/UK Time) 6pm (Central Africa Time – Maputo)
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.

For more information on this special event please visit the Wayiwayi Art Studios & Gallery online.

Image: Stuart Whipps, A postcard of Victoria Falls leaning against a geological sample from John Latham's mantlepiece, C-Print, 31.25cm x 25cm, 2013