Occupation: artist
For its first appearance at the Venice Biennale in 2011, Zimbabwe chose a strong title — Seeing Ourselves — to signal the need of its artists to be viewed, observed. To make their creative force known, in the hope of representing the possibility of a new beginning, a personal and social rebirth.
Animals of the Night (2013)
by Absolute Majongah
Village Life (2013)
by Ajasi Alama
As such, I was moved by the comments of a painter from the inspiring women’s community, Weya (which Sarenco, the artistic director of the Malindi Biennale, describes in his introduction). Talking about herself, she said that until a few years ago she would not have believed it possible to paint something that somebody would be willing to buy. She added: “When people ask me where I work, I answer that I am an artist. I wrote ‘Artist’ on my passport.”
In the Forest (2013)
by Charity Manema
Towards Xmas (2013)
by Chuma Kudakwashe
Then again, this desire for emancipation and affirmation through art is a reflection of the transformation process in Zimbabwe, the Southern African state almost circular in shape, which, amid inequalities and contradictions, is focussing on social welfare and development. Greater stability is paving the way for economic recovery, which will be a powerful force in tackling the serious problem of unemployment.
Bible Study (2013)
by Elisabeth Shonge
Drinking Beer (2013)
by Gallet Mungure
Riches abound, natural resources that attract strong foreign investment, particularly from China. Suffice to say, the country has the largest diamond mine in the world, discovered in Marange in 2006, which some estimates suggest could ultimately supply 25% of the world’s diamonds.
Baboon Attack (2013)
by Irene Karuva
Wild Animal (2013)
by J. Risinamhodzi
In this varied scenario, among the problems of everyday life and the hopes for tomorrow, Imago Mundi has chosen to show the world the vitality of the artists of Zimbabwe, in the belief that the artistic wealth of the country can contribute to creating a new future.
Rural Life (2013)
by Margaret Majo
Village Life (2013)
by Margaret Mashonganyika
Making and promoting art, in this as in other contemporary experiences on the African continent, also means a dialogue with tradition, confirming or nullifying Western influences, participating — to borrow a theme addressed
by the anthropologist Jean-Loup Amselle in the volume L’art de la friche. Essai sur l’art africain contemporain — in the reflection on the aesthetic qualities of African art, on the place of Africa in our collective vision.
Hair Style (2013)
by Melania Chisango
At Home (2013)
by Memory Miles
The 140 works in the collection create a colourful portrait of Zimbabwe with recurring themes — village life, women and their duties, motherhood, tools of the trade, animals, trees, the Victoria Falls, great Mother Africa — themes which are also represented using embroidery, collage and applications on the canvas.
The Wild Animals (2013)
by Osbon Bhungu
Wild Animal (2013)
by Roselyn Mukiwewa
These artists open a candid window on a largely unknown world, one that is generally identified through clichés and definitions of convenience (tribal art, primitive, naive).
It is an encounter with life — a community, a country, a continent — that the Zimbabwean artists have ‘set’ on a small canvas, in the certainty that the unprejudiced eye of the beholder will reanimate it.
Luciano Benetton
Village Life (2013)
by Sarah Mudzingwa
