Adventures with BoBoBongz

Born in Lusaka in 1991, Kaluba Blanco Chilawa‘s artistic journey was influenced by his father’s carpentry and a relative that loved to draw. Despite a waning childhood passion for art due to aspirations in theology and engineering, this Zambian sculptor pursued an Art Teacher’s Diploma at Evelyn Hone College in 2014 and put his learning to use. Kaluba’s art career begun to take flight after an apprenticeship with Sydney Siansagu, another of Zambia’s prolific sculptors. Under Sydney’s guidance and care in 2017, Blanco was able to reflect and discover just what his art would embody and how he would make his mark.

Since then, Kaluba’s mixed-media sculptures have embodied social themes within a local context through motifs like the bow, arrow and calabash, which are unmissable in his entire portfolio. He especially explores the symbolic nature of the calabash which often represents nourishment and the connection between nature and human creativity, within most African cultures. He skillfully combines different wood species (like mukwa, teak, mahogany being) with metals and polished marble, paying close attention to detail in his final pieces. I was glad to learn that he takes various amounts of time to craft his beautiful pieces, and often times they are completed in multiple sittings, with most of the signature ones taking as long as three months to complete.

His notable works are featured in some of Lusaka’s major galleries and private collections plus, one of my personal favorites that was exhibited at the Lechwe Gallery, Oral Traditions, was actually gifted to King Mswati of Eswatini by Zambia’s seventh President. Kaluba has also received multiple Ngoma Awards and was nominated in the FNB Art Competition in 2024. ‘Hidden Treasure’s, His most recent exhibition is showcased at Alliance Française’s Total Energy Gallery until the middle of May 2025.