Lusaka has produced a homegrown wonder the whole world should know about. Five-year-old Nathania-Jane Sovi, known everywhere as Nana-J, has already held four solo exhibitions and collected awards for abstract paintings she started making at the age of two, according to Times of Zambia.
And she did it all without a single foreign art school, foreign grant or foreign stamp of approval. This is Zambian talent, grown in Zambian soil, on Zambian walls.
It started with scribbles on the wall
Most parents would scold. Nana-J's parents decided to watch. Her father, Chinyemba Sovi, told the Times that the family first treated her scribbling as a habit to redirect. Then one day, during a walk to Manda Hill, the toddler spotted watercolours in the window of Bookworld and wanted them.
„We realised that the colours would end up on the wall, so we asked if they had a flip chart and a stand she could use. We bought those too,“ her father said.
When the family came home, they set her up and thought the problem was solved. Then came the shock.
„One day I came back home and found an extraordinary painting with a very vibrant mix of colours. I asked who had done it and my wife told me it was Nana-J,“ he said.
He was convinced it was a prank. „I was 100 per cent sure she was playing a prank on me because I couldn't understand how a two-year-old could make such a painting,“ he said.
„Daddy, I am done“: the moment everything changed
One day Nana-J asked to paint. Her father set up her station and watched her work with her fingers and a palette, producing the piece now known as The Wine Glass. Then she turned to him and said: „Daddy, I am done.“
„That is the day I realised that there was something unusual going on. Something very extraordinary,“ he said.
Born on November 20, 2020, in Lusaka, Nana-J works mainly in watercolour on paper. Her paintings are marked by bold colours, layering, transparency and expressive strokes. She lets the colours and the brush lead the work rather than starting from a fixed picture. Her inspiration comes from everyday life, nature, imagination and Zambian culture around her.
A curator connects her to Zambia's rock-art ancestors
Curator Zenzele Chulu, who curated Nana-J's fourth solo exhibition, described her work as a reflection of child impulse and connected her bare-handed painting to the fingerprints left by Zambia's rock-art ancestors. Let that sink in. A five-year-old from Lusaka is being linked to the first artists our land ever produced. That is not a small thing. That is heritage talking through a child's fingers.
Her school noticed too. It named her Artist of the Year in 2025 and held its first Art Gala in her honour, where she received the Extraordinary Award for Abstract Art in 2024. JAGA Artist Paints and Mediums appointed her a brand ambassador and supplies her materials, which matters because art supplies and framing cost real money, especially for a young artist whose work keeps changing.
Four exhibitions before most kids learn to tie shoes
Her first solo exhibition was held at East Park Mall in November 2023, when she was two years and 11 months old. By three, she had already held three solo exhibitions. Her fourth solo exhibition and award ceremony took place at Zeela Art Gallery on October 9, 2026.
She is not alone on the continent. A nine-year-old son of South African stars Nandi Madida and Zakes Bantwini recently exhibited his art in the Netherlands as the youngest artist at the international show, News24 reported. Kenya's own Wangechi Mutu, who now splits her time between Nairobi and Brooklyn, built a global career from African roots, according to her Wikipedia profile. The world's biggest art outlets, including The Art Newspaper, track such stories closely. But Nana-J's rise shows our children do not need to leave home to be taken seriously.
Childhood first, fame second
Behind the paintings and the attention is still a five-year-old who needs to play, attend school, laugh, rest and simply be a child. Her parents have not lost sight of that, and that discipline deserves respect.
„Our priority has always been to protect her childhood. She is a five-year-old first, and she plays, learns and goes to school like any other child,“ her father said.
Painting is not imposed on her. There are evenings when she refuses to sleep until she paints. The wider family, including her brother Wana and sisters Tinashe and Kisu, helped mount her first exhibition. Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins have quietly stood behind her.
What Nana-J's story says about opportunity in Zambia
Her parents refuse to reduce her story to exhibitions, awards or records. The real point, they say, is what her journey could mean for other Zambian children whose talents remain hidden because nobody bothered to look. Children need more than praise. They need opportunity.
„Talent needs encouragement, space and access,“ her father said.
How many Nana-Js are out there in Matero, in Chawama, in Chipata, scribbling on walls while adults reach for a slap instead of a paintbrush? This is the question her family wants the nation to ask.
„The art, the exhibitions and the cameras will come and go,“ he said. „We hope her journey will change how our society thinks about children, talent and opportunity.“
The family hopes she grows up loved, grounded and free to choose her own path, in the arts or anywhere else. Before she was an artist with admirers, she was a little girl who wanted to paint. Her parents could have stopped the scribbles. Instead they bought watercolours, a flip chart and a stand, and somewhere in between, a young Zambian found her voice.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Nana-J?
Nana-J is the nickname of Nathania-Jane Sovi, a five-year-old abstract artist born on November 20, 2020, in Lusaka, Zambia.
How many solo exhibitions has Nana-J held?
She has held four solo exhibitions, the first at East Park Mall in November 2023 and the fourth at Zeela Art Gallery on October 9, 2026.
What awards has Nana-J received?
She received the Extraordinary Award for Abstract Art in 2024 and was named Artist of the Year by her school in 2025, among other recognitions.