An international public zoom event hosted by Agness and Lawrence Yombwe in Livingstone, Zambia
February 23^rd, 2021

I had long harboured a plan for a Zambian odyssey. John Latham, the British conceptual artist, was born on 23rd February 1921, in Livingstone, Zambia, the same town in which I was born. In 1975, John coined the phrase ‘Incidental Person,’ an artist who engages in wider contexts such as industry, politics and education and is  ‘a resource and an instrument of change … for future societies everywhere.’ I decided several years ago that I would travel to spend several weeks in Livingstone and be there on this 100^th anniversary. My quest was simply to be in the town with the notion of the ‘incidental person’ as a catalyst to ignite ideas and make something happen on 23^rd February 2021.

As Covid took hold and I realised I might face complication of travel and restrictions, I decided to reach out to people in Zambia in advance and make some connections rather than my intended plan of a mysterious unfolding upon arrival there. This led to meeting many Zambian artists online.

One of the first artists I met, Agness Yombwe, amazed me with her enterprise and ethos, unknowingly operating in the mode of the ‘Incidental person.’ In a radical artistic response to the devastating pandemic that had created crushing economic circumstances, threatening the livelihood of entire families in Livingstone, Agness Yombwe approached the Senior Chief Mukuni of the Toka Leya people to ask for land, which the Royal Establishment gave her to activate the  ‘Creatives Village’, an innovative project that integrates artist initiatives with the planting of crops and trees, training opportunities and employment.

When it became apparent that it was unrealistic to travel to Zambia, I realised that the money I would have used for my airfare could support an artist residency at Agness Yombwe’s art centre, WayiWayi studios, and that the selected artist could do a live event on 23^rd February as part of a public zoom event on that day. Serah Chibombwe was the artist selected for the residency.

The programme for the zoom event came to include talks by Agness Yombwe about the Creatives Village, the art historian Andrew Mulenga about local art histories, a
reminiscence by Noa Latham, son of John Latham and Professor at University of Calgary, Department of Philosophy, a presentation by Harriet Latham, artist and granddaughter of John Latham, Livingstone Connections by John-Paul Latham, son of John Latham and Reader in Geomechanics at Imperial College London, a performance inspired by Bemba initiation rites, by Serah Chibombwe, artist in residence at Wayi Wayi Studios,
 Meeting Incidentalism, a talk by Sarah Andrew, artist and human rights lawyer with Avaaz, comments by Benjamin Mibenge, local environmentalist and artist.  I gave a performance /lecture on Livingstone Incidentalism