“Our Stories” - Lungala Rubadiri

Paul Nzalamba and I, Lungala Rubadiri, are artists based in Los Angeles CA. We are immigrants from Africa who chose to call the USA home. We both became US citizens in the early 2000s.

Over the last 30 years we have participated in many art shows in the country. Some of our top shows are in WA State and these include the Best of the Northwest Art Festival which we have participated in for over 15 years; both in the Spring and the Fall. We realized several years ago that even with a gallery in Los Angeles, most of our art sold at art shows. There the general public is geared towards collecting art at a venue where artists in many different categories are brought together. Over time we realized that having good promoters at the show meant a pool of good artists together in one location; hence a build-up of avid collectors who could follow us artists from venue to venue.

This Covid-19 pandemic has definitely affected us immensely especially because most of the art shows we usually do have been cancelled since mid-March and possibly all the way to August.

It would be in our interest to have people like Best of the Northwest / Northwest Art Alliance Staff, who work very hard to put on a first class show twice a year; to be given a platform in which they could develop a virtual art show. The organization has repeatedly provided a solid platform which brings us the customers we need. There is only so much we can do as artists, but when we have the right gears to bring us together, we definitely do a lot better economically. We would not hesitate to recommend The Northwest Art Alliance to handle growth into new platforms for artists.

Sincerely,
Lungala and Paul - NZALAMBA ARTWORKS