People From Far Away

Gerald Machona, Ndiri Afronaut (I am an Afronaut), 2012
Decommissioned Zimbabwean dollar, foam padding, fabric, wood,
Perspex, rubber, plastic tubing, nylon thread, gold leaf
c. 190 x 60 x 50 cm
Courtesy Goodman Gallery

Gerald Machona
People From Far Away
Gerald Machona, People From Far Away (film stills), 2012
Single-channel HD film
12 min 57 sec
Courtesy Goodman Gallery

‘People from far away’ is derived from the Shona
word vabvakure, which is used to describe a
‘foreigner’. Following the political and economic
collapse of Zimbabwe in the late nineties, thousands
of Zimbabweans migrated into neighbouring
countries. South Africa hosts the largest number of
Zimbabwean migrants in this diaspora. In 2008, a
wave of xenophobic violence spread through South
Africa, images of which were seen throughout the
world. (In a horrible moment of déjà vu, this moment
is being repeated in South Africa in 2015.) Many
of the victims of this violence were Zimbabweans.
People were targeted through a process of profiling
which assumed that authentic South Africans are
lighter in complexion or fluent in an indigenous
language. This resulted in a number of South African
casualties. Such beliefs have complicated the idea
of what constitutes ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ in South
African society, pitting ‘native’ against ‘alien’ and
perpetuating an exclusive sense of belonging that is
reminiscent of apartheid doctrine. There is a growing
need in the post-colony to deconstruct these notions
of individual and collective identity, since ‘nations’,
‘nationalisms’ and ‘citizenry’ are no longer defined
solely through indigeneity or autochthony.

Gerald Machona is a Zimbabwe-born visual and performance
artist. He received his Master’s degree in fine art (sculpture) from
Rhodes University in 2013 and holds a BA degree in fine art (new
media) from the University of Cape Town. In 2011 Machona was
selected by Business Day and the FNB Joburg Art Fair as one of
the top ten young artists practicing in South Africa. He works
in sculpture, performance, new media, photography and film. A
notable aspect of his work is his innovative use of currency—
particularly decommissioned Zimbabwean dollars—through
which he explores migrant and diaspora narratives as well as
the creative limits of visual art production. He has participated
in group exhibitions such as Making Way at the Standard Bank
Gallery, Johannesburg (2013); The Night Show, Goodman Gallery,
Cape Town (2011); The Geography of Somewhere, Stevenson,
Johannesburg (2011); and US II, Iziko South African National
Gallery, Cape Town (2010). Machona is a recipient of a Mellon
Scholarship and a member of the Visual and Performing Arts of
Africa (ViPAA) research group at Rhodes University