Katwamba Mutale

I will use this fund to research, develop my practice, and create new work through collaboration and hands-on making. I’ll explore queer sexuality across cultures, focusing on how identities intersect and express themselves in different contexts. I’ll develop a series of photoshoots with stylists, models, and creatives — bringing queer stories into public and culturally significant spaces.

As a queer Zambian-British artist, I’m driven to create new spaces for representation—especially for those whose voices are still marginalised globally. My experience of queerness is shaped by overlapping cultural identities. I work within the “third space” (as Homi Bhabha coined it), where diasporic individuals create new ways of being and representing themselves through blended histories and geographies.

I’ll deepen my skills in film photography and printing in the darkroom and refine my aesthetic. I’ll also build relationships with other artists to support long-term collaboration, including creatives like Campbell Addy, Nadine Ijewere, Chi Chi Mate Langlah, Prince Oke, and Ramel Underwood.

I will travel to Zambia to work with the queer community there, documenting stories through portraits and interviews. With the support of key contacts like Sana Ginwalla and Manigaila Muvundika, I’ll work respectfully with participants who feel comfortable sharing their experiences.

This is a key moment in my practice. I’m ready to move beyond where I am now and step into a new phase where my work is more ambitious, consistent, and internationally connected. My main aim is to build a new body of work that explores queer identity across cultures, beginning with the UK and Zambia.

Now is the right time to take this step. I’ve built a solid foundation, but I need dedicated time to go deeper — to refine my craft, grow my confidence, and work in a more focused, consistent way. As someone who is neurodivergent (ADHD, dyslexic and dyxpraxic), having clear structure and resources will help me move away from a stop-start approach and towards a more sustainable, ongoing creative rhythm. This is a focused, ambitious plan, and I have a clear timeline, contacts, and practical structure to make it happen.