Interested in politics of identity, home and belonging, Sana Ginwalla (b. 1996) is an
artist, curator, archivist, designer, lecturer and writer. She is the founder of the Everyday
Lusaka Gallery and Zambia Belonging counter–archive – art platforms dedicated to
shifting towards a more considered visual representation of Zambia’s past and present
to build a contemporary archive for future generations. Zambia Belonging is a crowd-
sourced counter-archive of photographs from Zambia’s past after encountering 1000
odd forgotten photographs from Fine Art Studios – one of Lusaka’s oldest photo studios.
The collection has been presented at the Lusaka National Museum, the 13th African
Biennale of Photography in Bamako, the Lusaka Contemporary Art Centre as well as the
University of Cambridge.
Prior to opening the Everyday Lusaka Gallery, Ginwalla independently curated exhibitions
at the National Gallery of Zambia, Lusaka National Museum, and Modzi Arts Gallery and
Zamrock Museum. She regularly curated works at the Alliance Française de Lusaka,
working with internationally acclaimed artists such as James Barnor and Vitshois
Mwilambwe Bondo, as well as several upcoming and established Zambian artists such
as David Daut Makala, Mika Marffy, Visule Kabunda and Kalenga Nkonge. By engaging
the public in her exhibitions, Ginwalla’s curatorial work often transcends the protocols
of gallery and museum spaces through participatory installations. She is drawn towards
bodies of work that explore heritage, memory and the family archive. Working in this
way allows her to further understand her identity and place in the world and is what she
aims to facilitate for others too.
Sana is the photo-editor of Zambia’s first stock photography platform called ZamStock
and is soon publishing Zambia’s first photo-book of archival street photographs from
Lusaka. Sana is currently lecturing and pursuing her Masters in Creative Arts at the
Open Window University Zambia, while also researching visual material from Zambia at the University of Cambridge Library