Portrait of artist and curator Georgina MaximOriginal Source: Design Indaba
Meet Georgina
Zimbabwean Georgina Maxim is known for both working as artist and curator She co-founded Village Unhu in 2012, an artist collective space in Harare which supports young artists. Recently Maxim studied African Verbal and Visual Arts – Languages, Curation and Arts (Masters) at the University of Bayreuth in Germany and she displayed a body of work at the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the 58th Biennale Di Venezia 2019.
Letters I wasn't supposed to readDesign Indaba
As an artist, Maxim’s work combines weaving, stitch work and the utilization of found textiles creating objects that evade definition. Maxim describes her work as “the memory of” evoking the past.
Recalling red
In her work Letters I wasn't supposed to send, Georgina works with fabric to recall Zimbabwe's vibrant red Flamboyant trees which bloom in the rainy season.
Letters I wasn't supposed to readDesign Indaba
Explaining her love of these evocative trees, Georgina explains, "At the end of the year, in the rainy season, I wait for the Flamboyant Tree to come into bloom. The landscape is dotted with red flowers, and as they begin to fall, the floor becomes a carpet of red.''
Harare is famous for images of this red tree, commonly known as the Flame Tree or Delonix Regia.
These trees mark the change of the season; and as Georgina notes, reminds her of the smell of the rain. ''It is a time to wash things away, to feel the raindrops and to watch the color red become stronger every week as the rains pour down.''
Letters I wasn't supposed to readDesign Indaba
Speaking on the rich color of the trees, she notes 'this red gives me the power to start again and refresh my work. Red is not a color that drains me, it gives me energy, it gives me life. It is a color that means perseverance.''
Georgina's love of red, and the work that she has made about it, is intrinsically linked to Zimbabwe. In speaking about her identity, Georgina states: ''The fact that I make part of the vast ethnic diversity of what being an African includes, and that as an artist I make a contribution in my own way and language, and that I live in Africa, and take pride in my culture – these are just a few things that make me proud to be Africa''
