By Sofia Achame and Myriam Munezero
Sunday Ngakama is a Tanzanian illustrator and comic book author currently living in Finland. His key objective is to capture life stories and present them in an artistic format. Sunday works on stories that resonate and relate to topical issues in society, and stories that inspire him.
His works have been exhibited at Gandhi hall in Tanzania (2004) and also at Bagamoyo Art Festival (2006). In Finland, Sunday’s work was displayed at Faces Festival in 2006, at the Wanha Jokela Hotel in 2008, as well as at a Group exhibition at the Ahjo Gallery in 2017.
We sat with Sunday to talk about his work and life as an illustrator, the challenges encountered along his journey as well as the triumphs.
Sunday has a passion for drawing, which began as a child. His retired father worked as a civil engineer and exposed Sunday to technical drawings of road designs at an early age. This of course inspired young Sunday’s interest in capturing reality by and imprinting his visions by the use of pen and paper.
In recognising his talent, Sunday’s primary school teachers were instrumental in encouraging him to pursue an interest in drawing and was given extra assignments in school to develop and improve his skills and talents. Sunday also enjoyed reading comic magazines and books as well as painting during his free time.
Sunday enrolled at a technical school upon graduation from high school to pursue studies in electrical installation. During this time, Sunday’s life illustrations continued as a hobby. After his studies, he obtained an entry position as a Signwriter at Victoria Signwriters, an advertising agency for two years. In 2010, he moved to Finland, and has studied both print production and visual expression.
Sunday’s comic stories have always been based on true events, because of his interest in grasping the essence and reality of true stories. Furthermore, his illustrations focus on capturing stories relative to the African continent.
It is not easy to make comic books and it takes about a year to get an album ready from inception to finish and require being acquainted with the entire process of writing the story through the publishing phase.
Sunday’s advice to other illustrators, is “know who your target group is, and tell a story that is both entertaining and catchy.”
A major challenge is soliciting funding for any particular project. Sunday laments that it is easier to find funding for exhibition projects as a group rather than as an individual. He also asserts that in Finland, language is particularly a barrier. “Most of the application forms are in Finnish”, he says and “this is difficult for some people to follow up on and understand the whole point.” Sunday is currently improving on his Finnish language which he considers crucial.
Identifying local partners is challenging. For publishing his first book, he partnered with a Finnish artist called Sanna Hukkanen, whom he had met in Tanzania while volunteering at a center for street children. Together, they co-develop the idea for a comic book, which tells a story about a young boy; who experiences domestic violence and decides to run away from his rural home into the urban city. The boy then finds out that life in the city is not as rosy as he anticipated. The book is entitled “Runaway” and was translated into Finnish and is published and sold in Finland.
It is possible to obtain a copy of the Finnish version by ordering online at www.adlibris.com using the keyword “Karkuteillä”. Sunday Ngakama and Sanna Hukkanen are currently in search of a publisher for publishing the English version of “Runaway”.
Sunday Ngakama admits that branding oneself to gain visibility in the art world and with companies is rather strenuous, but yet necessary. Creating exhibitions and displaying your work, having a website, being present at forums and appearing on platforms like Facebook and Instagram are important marketing and advertising channels for improved visibility. Sunday is part of a media association in Tanzania and also a member of Kulttuurikameleontit ry, a Finnish association that organises art events in Finland. His talents and expertise are also available on offer to benefit advertising agencies and marketing departments in need of such professional skills. Sunday is versatile in design graphics and is capable of developing illustrative manuals books and brochures for the companies and other end-users.
Sunday is currently involved in teaching children comics drawing in Finnish.
He iterates, “Teaching is important to me, because I believe that knowledge must be shared”.
His future plans include organising a comic workshop under the banner of Think Africa ry. The workshop will focus on themes and issues of multiculturalism and integration.
We at Think Africa wholeheartedly wish Sunday all the best in his project and future endeavors. It is our hope that he will continue to capture stories that enlighten and make us think to care.
For illustration, exhibition, or teaching opportunities, Sunday can be reached as follows: sunday.ngakama@outlook.com.
Sunday is doing great job focusing on what he is passionate about,..I am sure he will do great things and achieve his goals.
Congratulations to Think Africa for this very impressive story about Sunday Ngamaka career and activities.
Very motivating