Mozambican Artists’ Residency Sponsored by Hollard Mozambique

This week, there is an added buzz in the gallery as we facilitate a residency/workshop for a group of Mozambican artists; Ulica Mena Abrantes, Ventura Mulalene Zucula, Yassmin Forte, and Lauro Munguambe with Master Printmaker, Cloudia Rivett-Carnac as she shared her skills and (self-confessed) love affair with printmaking. 

The artists are here as part of the annual Better Future Awards, which take place at Galeria Kulungwana, with the ongoing support of Hollard Mozambique, who have a long-standing commitment to developing and supporting the arts in Mozambique. Dana, director of The White River Gallery, had the honour of judging alongside Dr Alda Costa of the University of Maputo and Mieke Oldenburg, an independent curator from The Netherlands. The awards took place at the 1916 Central Railway Station in Maputo, an ornate structure built in the Baroque Revival style and today a bustling landmark in our neighboring city vibrant city of Maputo.

The workshop focused on cyanotype printmaking - which is a method that involves laying an object on paper that is coated with a solution of iron salts, before exposing it to UV light (sunlight) and washing it with water to create stunning white and Prussian blue images. The areas covered by the object form a photographic image on the paper, a bit like a stencil. 

With Cloudia’s guidance, our artists experimented with this technique, using objects, photographs, and cut-out images from magazines. 

  

A separate space has been allocated in the gallery to showcase the final artworks produced by the artists - they are certainly worth the view!