Ukupupuka: An Exploration of Transcendence

1/8-2/8/2025

Ukupupuka, translated from Bemba (the most spoken language in Zambia) to English, means flight. In Ukupupuka: An Exploration of Transcendence, Zambian multi-disciplinary artist and scholar Aaron Samuel Mulenga explores various visual avenues of elevation and flight which allow one to transcend their physical limitations. Mulenga excavates the historic narratives of marginalized African individuals who contributed to significant moments of history like the First World War, while also envisioning the future through a Black African lens. By suturing together the past with the contemporary moment, the artist acknowledges life’s cyclical nature which sees the past, present and the future as flowing into one another. Transcendence becomes an avenue through which one can tap into both the past and the future while existing in the present.

In 1964, Edward Mukuka Nkoloso, a member of the Zambian Freedom Fighters and the founder of the Zambia National Academy of Science, began to train the first African crew to travel to the moon, in the same year when the country gained independence from the United Kingdom. Although space travel was not realized, the Zambian Space Program has since captured the imagination of contemporary artists globally. Aaron Samuel Mulenga’s Afronaut series stems directly from the legacy left behind by unencumbered dreamers like Nkoloso and the Zambian Freedom Fighters. Nkoloso coined the term Afronauts, from African Astronauts. The series has enabled Mulenga to explore opportunities to reconnect with a spiritual world that had been dominated by Christianity in Africa. The artist’s Afronauts wear halos instead of helmets in their exploration of transcendence in the spiritual realm, countering mainstream Christian iconography.