Artist Talk: Victor Mutelekesha

Artist Victor Mutelekesha states “We are all hybrids in every way imaginable.” Join the National Museum of African Art for a thought-provoking talk with the 2016–17 Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow as he explores art-making in the wake of his self-realization as a hybrid being. Listen as he discusses how art simultaneously provides answers and asks new questions.

Mutelekesha was born in 1976 in Chililabombwe, Zambia. His work deals with subjects such as hybridity, diaspora identity, and the human condition, and has been featured in such international exhibitions as the Dakar Biennale, the Havana Biennial, and OpenART in Örebro, Sweden. Mutelekesha has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Gallery Palazio Tito in Venice, Italy; the Henry Tayali Art Centre in Lusaka, Zambia; and the Interkulturelt Museum and Kunstnerforbundet Gallery for Contemporary Art in Oslo, Norway. The artist’s work is currently featured at the 2017 Venice Biennale’s NSK State Pavilion. As well as this year’s Smithsonian fellowship, he has also been the recipient of grants from Norway’s Office of Contemporary Art and the Ford Foundation. Mutelekesha lives and works in Oslo.

Free and open to the public.

National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institute 950 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, D.C. 20560

africa.si.edu