Zambian breweries’ graffiti artists bring new meaning to watercolour

Zambian Breweries commemorated World Water Day by offering talented graffiti artists the blank canvas of water tanks at its Mungwi Road Plant so that they could leave behind their mark.
As well as hoping that they could draw plenty of inspiration from the project, the firm was also looking for them to paint a picture of just how important water is in our lives.
Zambian Breweries’ Brewery Operations Director  Franz Schepping sketched out the details: “World Water Day is a very important day for Zambian Breweries. Water is a scarce resource around the globe and no more so than in Zambia. And nearly all our products are made from water, from soft drinks to alcoholic beverages.
“World Water Day means a lot to us and sending the message about its importance can give us a thrilling idea of how we can conserve and use it in a proper manner.”
For this year’s World Water Day, which is held every March 22, the theme was ‘Nature for Water’ which explored how we can use nature to overcome the water challenges of the 21st Century.
Mr Schepping was impressed by the work the graffiti artists left behind: “This is a magnificent piece of art which is meant to remind people about the importance of water and why we need to always preserve it and use it in a proper way.”
Art is a very important tool in every society, as it attracts and helps people understand messages in a creative simple manner.

“At Zambian Breweries, we appreciate art and we want our local artists to be appreciated and exposed through sending educational messages to the community as graffiti artists do everywhere,” Mr Schepping added.
“The graffiti art work is the best, colourful thing around our plant and we are happy it could give the artists a bigger platform for their work and exposure.”
Zambian Breweries appreciates and supports various art forms around the country and is very impressed with how much talent Zambia has.
Passionate graffiti artists from around Lusaka came together to create the work, which expressed different styles of art.

One, Joseph Mvula, said: “We are privileged that Zambian Breweries invited us to come and express our artistic creativity on their water reservoirs. We had such a wonderful time and we hope our work can inspire people in many good ways.”
Another artist, Morris Fenete, added: “I love graffiti because I can express myself. I can tell a bit more about myself and elaborate more with my pieces. Zambian Breweries has been more than generous by providing these water towers on which we put the graffiti.”
After the Zambian Breweries project, the artists are looking forward to working together to portray Lusaka in a better light through the Manja Pamodzi project and also to raise awareness of responsible alcohol consumption..
They hope they can achieve much more collectively by working together rather than as individuals.
The National Heritage Conservation Commission and National Arts Council also commended the artists for putting together such a magnificent show.