Euro-African Life in Namibia

Omba Gallery is delighted to host ‘Kemanguluko’ a mixed media collaborative exhibition by four (4) Namibian artists exploring the complex and often politicised term of ‘freedom.’ Internationally renowned artist, John Sampson, opened the exhibition on Friday, 4 September 2015. Kemanguluko means ‘towards freedom’ in Oshiwambo and describes a process or movement, physically, emotionally or spiritually, in the direction of liberation or freedom. The group of Namibian artists embracing the dictum of ‘kemanguluko’, collaborated to present discerning viewers with four different perspectives and explorations of freedom using photography and paint.  About Tuli-Mekondjo Mbumba ‘I want the freedom to create without being categorised; I want the freedom to create whatever I want as an artist.’ Self-taught Namibian fine artist, Tuli-Mekondjo Mbumba, was born in a refugee camp in Angola during the Namibian-Angolan Border War. It is therefore not surpri...

Omba Art Gallery is delighted to host ‘Namibian Safari’ , an art exhibition of oil pastel drawings by Bernd Kirchner. The exhibition starting on Monday, 15 June 2015, will run until Sunday, 19 July, 2015. When display artist Bernd Kirchner retired three-and-half-years ago, he finally realised the dream of a lifetime: to devote all his energy and time to sketching, drawing and painting the people and wildlife of Namibia. The end-result of his endeavour is a wonderful selection of decorative pieces Kirchner collectively and fondly refers to as his ‘Namibian Safari.’ With the exception of a few, all the framed pieces were created within a narrow colour spectrum of oil pastels and to complement the season, all the artworks on display are in warm winter colours. Kirchner has a flair for drama, or perhaps his artistic vision lends itself to the dramatic. His oil pastel drawings of Namibian rhino, springbok, leopard, lion and ostrich have at their centres his ...

Omba Gallery is delighted to host the second ‘Riding Souls’, a solo exhibition by Cuban artist, Yasiel Palomino Pérez . The critically acclaimed ‘Riding Souls’ or ‘Cabalgando Almas’ in the Spanish, was first exhibited in Havana, Cuba and, after falling in love with Namibia soon after his arrival in January this year, Pérez made the decision to exhibit the second ‘Riding Souls.’ Using oil and acrylic paint in combination with fine and large, emotional brushstrokes, Pérez depicts various breeds of horses moving restlessly across large canvases. Looking at the paintings, one can almost hear the horses snorting impatiently through flared nostrils and faintly, the dull pounding of their hooves on the earth.   He seeks perfection and Pérez found it entirely in the temperament and physical nature of the horse. The Spanish word for ‘soul’ is ‘alma’ and there on his canvases spirited equestrian phantoms gallop and storm seemingly from nowhere but actually from the soft under-be...