Date: September 1, 2023 | Story: Stephanie Maxwell Newton | Photography: Courtesy of Louise Mandumbwa |
Louise Mandumbwa’s introduction to art came at home. Her father, both an educator and a practicing artist, would set up his work on a folding table in the living room of their house in Botswana after school, and she would watch. “He would come alive in a way that was different from day to day life,” Louise recalls. “I remember thinking, ‘What is this thing that really seems to light him up?’”
Louise moved to the United States in 2015 to study first at Pulaski Technical College and then the University of Central Arkansas, where she earned degrees in graphic design and fine arts, respectively. Here in the Natural State she continued to explore the idea of home, a concept she’d been meditating on for years. She also formed deep and meaningful connections with the people around her, such as her host family and a local gallerist, Garbo Hearne. “I think my relationships with other people have always been the grounding aspect of my life,” she says. “For some people, home is a tangible, physical place. But for me—and this may be the case for many, especially immigrants—it’s the faces of the people who make you feel comfortable and seen.”
Using methods of drawing, painting, print-making, and often a combination of the three, she’s depicted everyone from teachers and custodians in her hometown to her Arkansas classmates. One such subject is Yannick, a friend and fellow artist from Louise’s time at UCA. In this piece, parts of the canvas are loosely covered in a liquid-graphite wash while only some details are drawn in stunning detail. “I was interested in finding the spot where the rendering was clear enough that you could recognize someone’s face, but it didn’t feel so tight and locked in, like nothing could change,” Louise says. Her work aims to invite viewers to consider each subject as an individual, challenging themselves to ask: Do I really know this person? Or do I have a preconceived idea based on what I see? “Anytime you can get an image of a person in front of someone, you’re opening up such a rich opportunity for conversation,” she says. “It’s portraiture, yes, but it’s also an object of facilitation.”
Louise is in her second year of graduate school at Yale University. Find her work at Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock and on Instagram (@louise_mandumbwa).
Art featured above: “Yannick” by Louise Mandumbwa, 16” x 20” graphite, liquid graphite, and liquid charcoal on canvas
