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Untitled by David Daut Makala is a unique mixed-media work executed using gum print and chine collée on Laurier paper (250 g/m²), with original pencil interventions by the artist. The composition is built upon a reproduced page from the laws of the Republic of Zambia, which functions as material substrate. The legal text remains partially visible beneath, overlaid with schematic drawings, annotations, and the phrase “NO FILE,” introducing a tension between legibility and erasure.

In this work, Makala advances a critical inquiry into identity as a construct shaped by institutional, bureaucratic, and postcolonial systems. Through processes of layering and manual alteration, the work articulates identity as a negotiated condition—situated between externally imposed structures and individual agency within a postcolonial Zambian context.

Gum print, chine collée, and pencil on Laurier paper, 250 g/m²

David Daut Makala

David Daut Makala (b.1983) is a self-taught artist from Lusaka, Zambia, where he currently lives and works. Makala is renowned for his versatility with materials, blending sculpture, painting, printmaking, digital art and performance. Makala considers his studio practice a form of research space where thoughts and ideas gather, resulting in exquisite pieces of art. For David, the processes involved in production also allow for greater interrogations of themes such as identity politics and mapping.