Nathanael Kapapa is school going and Kanyama Compound based, born 15years ago from an artistic family which is dominated mainly by male folks with only one girl. He has inherited his artistic nature from his father who is a seasoned Artisan in the construction Industry and a number of brothers with talents in music production and art.
The appetite for art started at a very tender age and took most of the free time after classroom which later brought about what people are able to see today. Born and spent the earliest part of his childhood in the town of Chililabombwe and Chingola in the Copper belt and the family finally relocated to the Midlands where the parents went to look for greener pasture and found himself in the capital city. The movements within the short space of time he believes had a bearing on his artistic ambition. When you move so much you experience a lot of things and sufferings are some of those experiences.
He drew his inspiration through the hard times we used to go through as a family, during those hard times I would take to drawing as a pass time not knowing that that was a way the creator intended for me to sharpen up the skill. Art is like my second nature and I owe it to my family who have been very supportive, the encouragement I have received from both my elder and younger brothers is so overwhelming such that I am made to believe that I can do much better if I took art full time. I took to social media owing to the support I received when the family decided to purchase a computer which I and my brothers have since started to use specifically to improve our skills in art. Cartoon work, pencil art and graphic design have been my favourite and the encouragement which I receive from a few selected fans, my parents and other family members such as my Uncle Ben Meki who holds a First Degree in Marketing and Advertising in Turkey has even pushed me to start contemplating on taking art as a full time career. So I take uncle Meki to be my role model as he keeps inspiring and providing moral and spiritual support.
What I would advise fellow teens like me is that they should be focused, put God first and foremost in everything they do as this will make them better understand principals of life. And that they should learn to persevere and be consistent in all their undertakings for them to reap fruitful results. They should also focus on one thing and master it or else at the end of it all they will master none.
Some of the greatest accomplishments took place when I started receiving orders through social platforms particularly Facebook for artwork designs, posters and cartoons and this encouraged me even more as it started bringing a bit of income to the food basket of the family and also attracting influential artists like you.
During my short stint in art I have had challenges arising from peers who in most cases have been discouraging me and many a time they would even laugh at my pieces of work but this encourages me even more. Besides a few setbacks from peers there has been stiff competition as quite a number of teens have been pushed into taking up art as a substitute for unemployment or for fear of destitution. Alongside perpetual discouragements from friends, material for use in drawing has also paused a big challenge whereas power outages in our locality has also been a big challenge I love art and I have a passion for it and it inspires me a lot and have learnt the hard way amidst critics who have been discouraging me and trying to pull me down but thanks be to the Almighty God for giving me a few friends who have been so supportive and for being an inspiration to me and keeps lifting my spirit. The other thing I love about art is that I see nature in it more especially when I am doing things like drawing plants such as flowers, trees etc. I liked drawing portraits of Musicians/artists so as to draw their attention with a view of getting noticed and had no enough patience to wait long enough for the talent to yield its own individual results. I later learnt that it was the gravest mistake I ever made because all it brought/attracted was bad comments from the social platforms where I used to post my artwork.
The secret of being where I am today, I owe it to the one above for giving me such a peculiar life of staying in isolation. I believe in having a quiet time in a secluded place, alone meditating and at times researching and reading artistic materials done by renowned artists who lived before us. I stammer a lot when I am talking as a result of this I prefer to be in isolation to avoid attending or participating in unnecessary conversations with others. This also has helped in shaping up my skill as I become more and more inspired. And if I had a say so or God made it possible for me to continue and persevere in this industry I would be for the idea that an association of young Artists be formed to help grow the industry as at now it’s not that easy to channel our grievances.
check him out on his facebook page to see more of his mind blowing art works!
