Zambian presidents have been sworn in standing in between his two lions at the entrance of the Supreme Court, the High Court lawns too are beautified by his African rendition of Justitia, the sword and scale wielding Roman goddess of Justice (Lady Justice). These are the iconic landmarks that are the legacy of sculptor Nobbie Tsokalida who passed away at the age of 70 last week on 2 July 2014 and was put to rest in Lusaka on 4 July 2014. Despite his considerable contribution, Tsokalida was never a household name within or outside the visual arts circles actually he was a man of humble means having created his major works from a rickety backyard studio in Lusaka’s secluded Desai compound outside Matero Township. “I did the lions from my home right here in Desai compound, it took me two years from 1984 to 1986. But when we placed the lions at the Supreme Court the (lions) heads were facing the sky” explained Tsokalida in a 2007 interview with the author “So the chief justice Annel Silungwe told me ‘Mr Tsokalida you will have to re-do the heads’ and so I had to chisel them”. A year after he completed the lions, he was tasked to create Lady Justice; to this statue too he had to make last minute alterations. Lady Justice earned Tsokalida a reasonable amount of money and according to the artist, he was awarded K95, 000 (ninety-five thousand kwacha) when the Zambian currency was 2 to 1 against the US dollar. But apparently there seemed to be an irregularity with processing payment for the lions and the prolonged imbursement seemingly tore him apart over a 20 year period, emotionally sapping him of creative resourcefulness. In fact at the time of the interview, his wife explained that he would get so emotional and talk about the issue for a whole day without stopping. By Andrew Mulenga. I have no words.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 04:22:43 +0000
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