Letters I wasn't supposed to read

Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative Colours of Africa, a collaborative project with Google Arts & Culture, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them.

The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.

Colour: Flamboyant Red
Country: Zimbabwe
Artwork Rationale:

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. It marks the change of the season; it reminds me of the smell of the rain. A time to wash things away, to feel the raindrops and to watch the colour red become stronger every week as the rains pour down.
This red colour gives me the power to start again and refresh my work. Red is not a colour that drains me, it gives me energy, it gives me life. It is a colour that means perseverance.

What it means to be African

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 African.

Biography

Zimbabwean Georgina Maxim is known for both working as artist and curator with over a decade of arts management and curatorial practice. She co-founded Village Unhu in 2012, an artist collective space in Harare that has been providing studio spaces, exhibitions, workshops and residency programs for artists – young and professional.
Maxim worked at Gallery Delta, her first experience during and after her studies at Chinhoyi University of Technology and is a qualified art teacher. 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. ​
Maxim was a nominee of the Henrike Grohs Award (Goethe Institute, Abidjan) 2018, and she has exhibited extensively with works being collected regionally (through Gallery Delta, National Gallery of Zimbabwe) and internationally (through 31 Project in Paris, Mojo Gallery in Dubai, Sulger-Buell Gallery in London, Goethe Institute in Salvador de Bahia).
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.