Banji
Chona

Awardee

Country

Zambia

Banji Chona reexamines history through her artistic practice.

Themes
Reexamining history
Environment / Climate emergency
Disciplines
Artistic Research
Sound Art
Visual Art
Awards
SEED Award 2024

Profile

Banji Chona is an artist, researcher, and curator. Chona’s practice combines ancestral baTonga knowledge with experimental contemporary techniques. Focusing on critical explorations of identity, memory, resistance and the communion of community through storytelling and healing, her work is rooted in the methodology of Radical Zambezian Reimagination. This is an offering of alternative historiographies and presentisms positioned to challenge socio-political and environmental fractures. By using "Zambezia" instead of "Zambia," she imagines an ancestral land beyond colonial projections and spatialities, fostering connections and healing beyond the imagined nation-state of Zambia.

Chona has exhibited in both solo and group shows in Zambia, Italy, Germany, South Africa and Norway. Her work and practice have been documented in the art journal Contemporary&. She is a fellow on the LoCA 2024 Curatorial Studio Programme in Livingstone, Zambia.