ZAMBIA LETTERS, 29

20/07/2025

Hanna started to prepare her talk as I made breakfast for Irpa. She was already done by 10 AM and it meant that I had time to prepare as well. I decided to do a talk without photos, as my project is text based, and to concentrate on what it means to share space and time together. My concept was simple. I would tell my life story from the moment of my birth until this day, from an aesthetic perspective. The common denominator was how my physical experience relates to writing. The performance was intersected with some handwriting that punctuated what I said, being projected on a screen behind me. Turning text into image, I suppose. But you need something to happen, if ever so little, when you are talking for more then 30 minutes in front of an audience. At the end of the session I would read some of my Zambia letters, from the Copperbelt.

I was done with my preparations only 30 minutes before I was supposed to begin, but as usual we didn’t get off until 45 minutes after we were supposed to. A man from the Swedish embassy came for the talk. I think the whole thing went pretty well and after a short break Hanna held her talk. It was of course much more visual than mine. She has beautiful documentation to show and every one of her projects is built around a process which constitutes a small universe of it's own. 

Her method for painting with mask is the most immediately interesting one in this context. The visitors asked her if she was superstitious, and she answered no. They also asked her if she was religious, and she answered no to that question as well. I joined in and explained that to us, mask is a materialist way to interact with sites. Chowa raised the question of whether Hanna thought that the presens of white landowners in Zambia was problematic. He was, of course, relating to our expedition to Twin Rivers Kopje. 

Benne Banda took up the thread and turned to Chowa, saying, ”yes, it is, but how did we end up in this situation to begin with, in your opinion?” This quickly turned into a somewhat heated discussion between them. I felt that they were relating to ongoing debates and to points of views already staked out by others. As I understood it, the question for them was whether the traditional African ownership of land was inferior to the European, and thus partly to blame for the contemporary situation, or not. 

Victor interfered and said ”Ok, I know where this is going. Look, there is a very interesting blogger from Zim who has done many talks about this, I suggest we all watch his YouTubes and then we can talk more about this later”. 

After this Uzi and Bruno served our vegetable soup (I had prepared it together with Irpa as Hanna made her preparations) and then Hanna invited everyone to her studio, where she explained more in detail how she will be working with masks in relationship to the expedition to Twin Rivers Kopje. She will be showing her paintings next week. 

We had leftover soup for dinner, at Emanuels bar. Chowa joined in and before we went to bed, we introduced him to Yatzy

—

21/07/2025

This morning Irpa and I watched the Danish cartoon Valhalla in bed. After breakfast Hanna and Irpa made for the studio. They had promised to meet a boy. They saw him being bullied earlier this week, when I was in Kitwe, and they had witnessed how he was beaten. He hadn’t struck back, but he had been holding a rock in the palm of his hand, and he was ready to use it. Hanna took him away from the situation and bought him some coke, then she talked to him about what happened. After, she had told him to come back this morning, but he never came. So we went shopping for groceries instead.

We chose to go to the ShopRite at Munali mall, but when we got back everything smelled the same kind of chemical they spray inside the shop, so we will not be going there again. 

At lunch, the boys from the neighborhood came by. They did some painting outside Hannas studio, with clay. She showed them how to produce paint. I joined them and tried it myself. 

During the afternoon it was off to the Shaolin temple. Chowa had said he would come with us, but he never did. The munk had trouble remembering what he had shown us the other day, but he really put Irpa under pressure when it came to stretching and he showed me how I can assist her in doing standing, one legged, stretch. 

On our way out from the temple the security guard (not the monks) tried to get some money from me, but I laughed him off. 

The driver taking us home was very friendly and he asked Irpa many questions about her Kung Fu training. As we got out of the car she started to go through the forms again, on the side walk, and he looked at her, smiling. ”See? She loves what she is doing.”

For dinner, we ordered some Indian food but it arrived very late. 

—

22/07/2025

This week school is only half time for Irpa. They are running some sort of semester tests. All the children are examined. If they don’t pass one of the tests, they will have to do the grade all over again. 

I transferred the text from my flight to Ndola on to my laptop (from my note book). Then I went back to school to pick her up. She is doing fine in certain subjects, like math, but not so well in others, like religion. She´s actually failing in that one. On the question: ”Do you have to do as the Lord says?” She answered: No. I will keep that test for the future. 

One of her classmates has given her a flyer. It is from Jehovas witnesses, her congregation, and it holds an invitation for her to come to their services. 

Hanna is painting in her studio all day. She has built a mask from the bark of one of the trees standing on top of the hill at Twin Rivers. Using the mask, she will produce six paintings. It is the mask that guides her in doing this so in a sense, it is the tree that is doing the painting. She is using a double headed brush. One brush is pointing upwards and the other is pointing to the floor. In this way she can produce a floor painting and a roof painting at the same time. The two paintings are then sewn together, producing a single piece of work. 

During the afternoon, more children came by. They wanted to play with Irpa. I brought out the art tools and left them to it. We have been a little concerned lately with borders concerning the physical interaction between the kids, so I remained in the proximity, to make sure everyone felt safe. 

After an hour or so, the kids went on home. I took the opportunity to read some more from Bilbo to Irpa. She doesn’t like to read it as evening sets in, and now we have gotten to the point where Bilbo is getting closer to Smaug, so I have to try to find time to read it during daytime. 

For dinner, Rachel showed us how to make Nshima. 

—

23/07/2025

I published the text from yesterday and wrote some on the text from Kankoyo. Rachel had made sweet potatoes in peanut butter and offered me some. I went to pick up Irpa. 

Two of her friends, the Boss and Jonathan, were waiting outside school. They asked if they could join when I picked her up, but I was a bit early and not allowed onto the premises. The gate keeper informed me that you have to wait until exactly 1230 before you can enter to pick up the children. So we sat outside for a while. The Boss asked if I go to church. I said no. He said I could come with him to his church. I said ”no, thank you.”

We got home. Irpa changed and then I allowed her to play some Nintendo, Mario, in the library where there is internet. Two older boys I haven’t seen before came by. They wanted to see art. It turned out that the oldest one actually wanted to present his drawings. I showed him to Uzi who told him to go and see Bruno, who was sitting outside Hannas studio, talking to her. I introduced them. The boy was eleven years old. Bruno advised him to bring his work one day, and also to come on Saturday for Hannas opening. 

Irpa took a swim in the pool together with Rachel, who is terrified of water. Then she did math in bed, before going to sleep. 

Today, Hanna asked me if I wanted to present some of my Zambia letters during her exhibition. As it got dark, she went out and burned the mask she has been using. She wanted it to be dark, so that she could film the fire properly. 

—

24/07/2025

Had a quarrel with Hanna this morning. 

Later, as I was writing in the library, Victor came by. He is planning a trip for LuCAC to go to Somaliland. They are bringing their library. The host had evaluated their titles and told him which books he would not be allowed to bring. It was the ones that had something about sex in their titles. He had also received instructions for his female staff on how to dress during their visit. 

I published the text from Kankoyo.

The boys came by and asked for Irpa but Hanna had already gone to pick her up so I sent them after her. 

Hanna came back. She started to edit the film from yesterday. The boys came back too, looking for Irpa. 

I did some training during the evening. Snake system, and also the butterfly kick in Drunken first. It has been a while with that one. 

Did some laundry. 

—

25/07/2025

Uzi sent me a letter of intent, signed by Victor, for the residency in Berlin. Deadline is today. I feel that there is a connection between my project with Arne Næss and the trials against the nazi collaborators, on the one hand, and my experiences here in Zambia with the mining industry, on the other. A residency in Berlin would allow me to investigate that further and I hope the Norwegian embassy will be interested in that perspective. 

I have decided to accept Hannas invitation and to join her exhibition.

—

26/07/2025

I spent the entire day printing the letters for the exhibition tomorrow but it didn’t turn out nice. I am going to have to redo it tomorrow. I want to present them with Japanese binding but in order to do that I need to put the margin further to the right. 

It has been difficult for me to both concentrate on the material, the texts themselves, and at the same time the presentation of them. It is two different things. I will try to go and see a printer in the morning and I hope to get everything ready in time. 

Hanna is happy with her paintings and I agree that her part of the exhibition looks great.