A Tribute to Litemba Mpambani
Wednesday 14 July - Friday 23 July
Litemba Mpambani, a student and visual artist based in South Africa, was selected for our Catalyst Arts Summer Online Residency. On Saturday 24 April 2021 Litemba was killed in a fatal incident at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and sadly passed away at the scene. We, the current board at Catalyst Arts, are still devastated and shocked at this news and have decided to move forward with her residency to honour her life. This will be an active space for us to share her work with our audience and members, while bringing awareness to the ongoing hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community in South Africa.
We offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to Litemba’s family during this difficult time. Litemba often talked about the amazing women in her life –– her grandmother, mother and aunts –– and how they have influenced her and her art practice. She was a ferocious feminist and called upon others to be the same.
Our opportunity to work with Litemba was brief yet meaningful, her passion and ambition was infectious even through virtual Zoom meetings and emails that reached across hemispheres. Litemba was a kind and warm individual, but was also outspoken with a valuable voice and outlook on the world she lived in. Litemba was a student at the University of the Free State and we were captivated by her strive for social justice in the dynamic and intuitive approach to her work. She believed that art could make change and spoke fearlessly about how her work could not only raise awareness on the rights of sex workers, intersectional feminism and queer lives but to make a difference in addressing the censorship and violence that devastates these communities.
We would like to honour Litemba’s Catalyst Arts Summer Online Residency until Friday 23 July by sharing an overview of her work in making visible the challenges and violence faced by "forgotten and erased black women”.
Litemba Mpambani was completing a BA in Fine Arts at the University of the Free State, a multi-media artist whose work centered on articulating an experience that is truly black and queer and concerned with the erasure of the black woman’s narrative.
“I believe that my feminist approach to artmaking was inspired by the fact that I was raised by very strong feminists. My grandmother taught me that I should never need anyone, my aunts taught me integrity and my mother, who has always been anchored only to the wind, taught me how to be free. I believe that all of these are important qualities for an artist to have.”
Her work has been collected by both the National Workers Museum and the National Art Bank, recent group exhibitions include The Phatsoany & Henney New Breed Finalist exhibition in 2019 and The ArtEC Gallery’s Annual Exhibition.
Although we are based in Belfast we would like to use this as a platform for the ongoing investigation into Litemba Mpambani’s death, if anyone with any information on the incident is asked to call Sgt. Thabo Litsoane on 079-606-7820 or to call 08600-10111.
Additional information and links are provided below where you can find out more information relevant to Litemba’s work and the circumstances surrounding her death.
rest in power
