Thai authorities have seized around 400 pieces of African elephant ivory concealed inside a shipment of timber from Zambia, with DNA testing planned to help investigators determine where the tusks originated. getaway.co.za/news/thailand-…

Parliament by Agness Yombwe.

Mo Abudu, the Nigerian media mogul is an act you can’t copy. Just when you think she has done it all, she surprises you with her next act. She has now conquered Britain—opening EbonyLife Place London, dedicated exclusively to African cinema. The first and only such place in the UK. The larger than life Abudu aims to expand the global reach of African cinema. The multi-floor facility brings together the best of African culture: art, film, couture and cuisine. #AfricaKuChalo news.broadcastmediaafrica.co…

Congratulations to the brilliant Mali, winner of the inaugural 2018 Kalemba Short-Story Prize. Rooting for you. Read her short story here: kalemba-shortstory-prize.com…

In Afghanistan, even rugs tell the story of war. They capture a turbulent history, from invasions and airstrikes to the fall of Kabul.

“Art is never finished, only abandoned” - A review By Sampa Kabwela I have a new literature obsession: the life and works of Leonardo Da Vinci. A year ago, a book in my Airbnb grabbed my attention. The Life of Leonardo da Vinci by Giorgio Vasari, first published in 1550 and re-edited in 1568. It was a captivating read and I reviewed it. I got even more books on Leonardo, Michelangelo, and other artists. I have just finished reading Young Leonardo: The Evolution of a Revolutionary Artist, 1472-1499, by art historians Jean Pierre Isbouts and Christopher Heath Browns. Where to start. Perhaps with the dramatic end of Leonardo. He died in the arms of the King of France, Francis I, and was buried at the Chapel of Saint-Hubert, at the Château d’Amboise. He had spent his last years living in France at the Castle of Clos Lucé as a guest of the King. “The King did not believe that a man had ever been born who knew so much as Leonardo, not only of sculpture, painting and architecture, but also that he was a great philosopher,” writes Vasari. Vinci is considered the greatest genius in history and a brilliant polymath of infinite talent. A scientist, inventor, artist, engineer and anatomist.  “Leonardo’s gifts were not natural, but supernatural: They were the gift of God,” declares his biographer, Vasari, adding the effusive line “Leonardo who does not just represent humanity, but the divine itself.” I will resist the temptation to quote everything. In any case, much has been written about Leonardo in the last 500 years, and it is available online. As with many biographies, the two books are as much about the artist as they are about the history of a country. A few things got my attention reading the two books. The role of apprenticeship, the critical role and insatiable interest in art by the Catholic Church, Pope Leo X, noblemen and rulers of the Republics of Florence, Milan, Rome and others (it was not yet Italy then). The period had a strong apprenticeship system. Every talent was honed under a master. Leonardo trained under Andrea del Verrocchio in his hometown of Florence. Leonardo himself became a master and took on apprentices, including Michelangelo and Francesco Melzi, to whom he left his entire estate (and in whose arms he died, according to Isbouts and Browns, countering Vasari’s account). This valued culture of pairing master and student continues even today in Italy, renowned for applying centuries-old craftsmanship to produce its coveted, high-priced brands. I have noticed the same in Iran and Afghanistan: impeccable craftsmanship passed down through master-apprentice pairing in top-tier jewellery-making, carpet weaving, clothing and furniture designs. Let me digress a little. When I was getting married, years ago, we were led to a a tiny, battered, obscure workshop of a goldsmith, Mr Banda, at towncenter. He was probably in his 60s, a connoisseur, a master jeweller who did all the export-quality jewellery for Indian-owned jewellers in Lusaka. He looked at our fingers and knew the correct sizes by heart. When he measured our fingers to assure the sceptical Briton among us, it was just as exact. A week later, when we picked up our bands, they could have as well been bought from any top jeweller in the world. If Mr Banda is still alive, he must be in his 80s. I wonder if his life’s work has been passed down to an apprentice. Back to the books. The second thing that struck me the most was how much artists were revered. The greatness of rulers, countries and their civilisation was directly proportional to the greatness of their private and public artworks: statues, paintings, and frescoes. It’s no exaggeration to say that the Catholic Church played a monumental role in the making of Leonardo, Michelangelo, and other great Renaissance painters through their commissions to create artworks for altars, ceilings and walls. The Last Supper is just one example. Similarly, dukes, governors, and nobles commissioned artworks for their private collections and public spaces. Many centuries later, millions of tourists troop into Italy, France and other European countries to see the artworks in Cathedrals, palaces and streets. In this regard, the Catholic Church, governors and nobles of that era were ahead of their time. They were visionaries who understood the cultural, spiritual, and aesthetic value of artworks. Without them, there would be no Leonardo to talk about centuries later. By contrast, most of our artists, who are incredibly talented, can barely survive; many leave the industry altogether in search of a living wage. Artists cannot be sustained by once-every-five-years exhibitions and private collections only. It can take up to two years to carve a sculpture out of stone, which might not even sell. Leonardo did fewer works, no more than 25. He didn’t finish many commissions because “he spent more time thinking than working,” to the displeasure of many patrons, including legal disputes. But he was still getting paid. Without that, he couldn’t make it or have the leverage to excel to the level he did. In Zambia, one institution that understood the value of art was Meridian BIO; unfortunately, it was short-lived. Their campus, now COMESA, was breathtaking. When it was being designed, the sculptors and painters were already on board and part of the process. The result was beauty unlike anything we had seen before or since in Zambia. When the Bank collapsed, many of the artworks ended up at Chaminuka. It has the second-largest collection of artworks in the country, after the Lechwe Trust. Other works ended up in private collections. When one of the leading South African banks opened shop in Zambia, its top management, mostly white South Africans, immediately became one of the biggest buyers of Zambian artwork and artfacts. It didn’t last. We were to learn that there was sharp resistance from middle management, all of them Zambian, calling the paintings “ungodly”, citing scriptures along the lines of “though shall not make brazen images, says the Lord.” They incited staff members, mostly “believers”, to sign a petition against buying “Chokwe masks” and paintings and insisted that those on display be removed. The other thing that has left an impression from the books is the penning down of the history. Leonardo’s life has been sufficiently documented and therefore immortal. A combination of personal and institutional record-keeping. Personal journals by the artist, as well as institutional records and others’. This has been critical in dealing with counterfeit artworks, because nearly every work is accounted for and can be correlated across different records using receipts of payments and diaries. So elaborate are the records that they include which family bought or gifted what paintings over the years. During my secondary school years at Chinsali Girls, we kept diaries and journals; we penned down our daily or weekly lives, afflictions and highlights. Looking back, those were invaluable records not just of our private lives, but of the country’s history. Those are the same kind of records that writers, biographers and historians use to write histories of a country and a people. Lastly, I have been most fascinated by the depth of analysis and nuance in the authors’ writing. It’s intriguing to read about the early years of an artist whose genius was appreciated only much later in life. Several of his earlier works and commissions were rejected for being unconventional or frankly ahead of their time. He was also a procrastinator and often took longer to finish commissions than his contemporaries, who finished on time, within budget, and stuck to formulae in their style. This unpredictability led to fewer commissions and sometimes lawsuits or outright rejections of his work. I have enjoyed reading, including supplementary online, how some artworks have changed hands over time. For instance, “All the beautiful and numerous anatomical drawings by Leonardo da Vinci are the property of the Queen of England, well preserved at Windsor Castle. These sheets are among the most surprising works of the great genius, both artistic and scientific, as it is displayed through the use of the image what was previously described only in words.” Leonardo’s Salvator Mundi, depicting Jesus Christ, is the most expensive painting ever. It fetched a staggering $450.3 million at an auction in 2017. It has never been seen in public since. It is believed that the Saudi Crown Prince MBS bought it through a proxy. I can barely wait for my next read on Michelangelo, whose name I pronounce phonetically as we would in the Bemba language. I will end with my favorite quotes of Leonardo, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” “The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” “Simplest is the ultimate sophistication.”