Gladys Kalichini (b. 1989, Zambia) is a contemporary visual artist and scholar from Lusaka, Zambia. Her work centers around notions of erasure, memory, and representations and visibilities of women in colonial resistance histories. Her multi-layered installations draw largely from research material and archival photographs of women in independence struggles. Kalichini’s work challenges dominant and nationalist narratives that have historically erased women’s contributions to history and political change.
Kalichini has a Master of Fine Art and PhD in Art History and Visual Culture from Rhodes University, in South Africa. Exhibitions include Seekers, Seers, Soothsayers (2023), Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, South Africa; Barmoko Encounters, African Biennale of Photography, Mali; Geographies of Imagination: My Language is a Dedouin Thief, Kochi Biennale, India; For the Phoenix To Find Its Form In Us and On Restitution, Rehabilitation and Reparation, SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin. Kalichini is a member of the Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme, supported by the Andrew. W. Mellon foundation and the National Research Fund. She is the 2022 main prize winner for the Henrike Grohs Art Award and a recipient of the Prince Claus Seed Award.