The EACC Gallery presents Your Name Is Not Your Own, an exhibition by artist Louise Mandumbwa of Conway, Arkansas. The exhibit will run through Friday, March 29th. 

A native of Francistown, Botswana, situated in the southern region of Africa, artist Louise Mandumbwa is a student at the University of Central Arkansas pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts.  Mandumbwa moved to Arkansas in 2015 to pursue her higher education in visual arts.  Her practice has since expanded to include works rendered on paper and wooden panel to sheets of acrylic and plexiglass.  Mandumbwa’s father, an educator and artist originally from Zambia, is credited for Louise’s interest and introduction to the arts.

Mandumbwa’s paintings included in the exhibit, Your Name Is Not Your Own, celebrate the beauty and tenacity of everyday people, while creating intimate snapshots through the ideas of individual identity and the human condition.  She strives to humanize her subjects who all too often are represented as sums of their tragedies and victims of circumstances.  As Mandumbwa grew up in a developing nation, she often found herself surrounded by resilient personalities, which are represented through subjects of her artwork.

Through her art pieces, Mandumbwa utilizes the nature of her preferred surface to further facilitate the narrative nature of her work.  Works rendered on wood panel are completed with sections of the wood grain exposed, which she believes helps demonstrate specificity of culture and a singular story.  More recent works exploring universal belonging in the context of a foreigner are rendered on plexiglass, which she believes removes any separation between the work and space inhabited.  Both technique and surface are intended to deliver an emotive work in which one might recognize facets of themselves, regardless of one’s background.       

Mandumbwa’s work has been featured in numerous publications including the cover of Hot Springs Magazine and an issue of the curated New American Paintings.  Her works have also been exhibited and displayed throughout Arkansas and nationwide including the 2017 Prizm Art Fair at Art Basel Miami, Henderson State University, Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock, and many more. 

The EACC Gallery is located at 1700 Newcastle Road in Forrest City.  Daily hours for the Gallery are Monday-Thursday from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and Fridays from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m., or as scheduled for special group tours. There is no charge for admission.  For more information, call 870-633-4480.