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Dr Tony Monda Art Zone
Artists who have studied visual arts and attended workshops and exhibitions in Europe, America and other parts of Africa have brought much cultural cross-fertilisation to Zimbabwe. They represent some of the most popular contemporary post-colonial artists in the country – a list which would include Arthur Fata, Chikonzero Chazunguza, Tapfuma Gutsa, Misheck Masamvu, Masimba Hwati, Gareth Nyandoro, David Chinyama and Tafadzwa Gwetai, among others.

For over three decades I have witnessed the development of contemporary Zimbabwean art and its explorative and transformational cultural trajectory. Today, its current engagement with international platforms and the reflective responses and distinctive idiosyncrasies of the artists and the societies which they live in has made Zimbabwean contemporary painting a new global talking point.

Three mid-career Zimbabwean artists attracting recognition and acceptance in a wider context and from an external audience are Virginia Chihota, Admire Kamudzengerere and Portia Zvavahera. They have an exhibition titled “Variations” at Gallery Delta which started running on October 17.

Virginia Chihota, who is currently residing and working in Tripoli, Libya, was born on March 29, 1983, in Chitungwiza. She completed her primary and secondary education at Chitungwiza schools, from where she proceeded to study art at the BAT Visual Arts Studios under the auspices of the National Art Gallery where she attained a Certificate in Fine Art.

In 2006 she completed her Diploma in Fine Art at the Harare Polytechnic. In 2008 Chihota was attached to Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, on a three-month residency where she perfected her printmaking and drawing skills. In 2012 she participated at the Lyon Biennale in Lyon, France, and the Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Virginia celebrates or laments her life through her works which include “Nguva Yangu Newe” (My Time with You), serigraph on paper, “Kugamuchira Hupenyu” (Receiving Life), serigraph on paper, “Nyaya Haina Kumbochinja” (The Story Hasn’t Changed) serigraph on paper, “Kurera Hupenyu Nekusaziva”, Serigraphs on paper, “Kurera Hupenyu Mukusaziva” serigraph and drawing on paper, and “Ndaikutsvaga” (Searching for You), serigraph and ink on paper. “My subject comes from a barren one, a moment in which the mind is not eager to range, yet within barrenness desire and hope remain,”  says the artist.

Admire Kamudzengerere has since 2012 been based at the Rijks Academie, Holland. He hails from Harare and was born on December 27, 1981. He attended Hatfield High School, where he completed his A-Levels. Out of over 2 000 applicants worldwide, he was short-listed among the top 12 artists of his age group and experience to be awarded a residency at the prestigious international studios in Amsterdam.
He is famous for his lively allegorical depictions of urban and country Zimbabwean life – and became the second Zimbabwean to attain a scholarship from Rijks Academie, in the Netherlands following artist Patrick Makumbe. His animated, surreal figurative paintings are based on a tacit understanding of abstract form and an incisive knowledge of animal and human anatomy and gesture.

Kamudzengerere sees his canvas as his chessboard.
“ . . .  Colours are my chessmen and I am painting about life – the struggle of a pawn within a complex political society . . .” the artist says. His works include “Figures and Cockerel” card print, “Face with Blue”, “Monotype”, “Naked Ladies”, Screen-print and collage, “Crowd” screen-print, “Bull and Audience” and “Hanging Fish”, which are telling lithographs.

Portia Zvavahera was born on March 22, 1985, at Juru Growth Point. She attended Oriel Girls’ High School in Harare, where she completed her secondary education. She trained at the BAT Visual Arts Studio under the auspices of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe between 2003-2005, completing her training at the Harare Polytechnic where she majored in printmaking and painting and earned a first class Visual Art Diploma in 2006. The artist has recently returned from Venice where she participated at the 55th Venice Biennale, together with Virginia Chihota, Vote Thebe, Michele Mathison and Rashid Jogee.

Inspiration for her mixed media artworks comes from Genesis 1 vs 26-28. In this exhibition Portia Zvavahera celebrates wedding and childbirth with her mixed media art entitled “Nyama Imwe” (As One), “Renda” (Wedding Dress), “Ucharwadziwa” (You Shall Endure Pain), “Wangu Mutema Tema” (Dark and Beautiful) and “Musana Kupisa” (Labour Pain).

The importance of self-awareness and their possibilities of new visual strands of conceptualisation and techniques emanate from these artists’ interactions with other cultures and countries. Due to their exposure to new information, new experiences and differing realities, their portrayals of self in their work tends to inform and give a genuine insight and knowledge of their mixed cultural milieu.

The exhibition highlights the differing realities of self, within social definitions and interactions and illustrates that art practice in Zimbabwe has become self-reflective, innovative and socio-critical in its outlook. All exhibiting artists are part of the “Now” generation of artists, who are engaging with the wider global art circuit and are creating new visual motifs that simulate new dialogue about an African culture in transition. The exhibition carries a message and indication of experimentation, adoption of new art forms and a paving of new directions. These artists are reclaiming their individual right to interpret their culture in their own eyes for today’s world.

Their contributions to global art discourse and current discussions about African art’s contemporaneity make their work a relevant bridge between Zimbabwe, Africa and the rest of the world. Through their graphics and paintings they explore the contemporary reality of Zimbabwe from a detached and subjective viewpoint and do not necessarily conform to stereotypical definitions and descriptions of Zimbabwean artists.

The exhibition “Variations” runs into November and is a great example for art students who want to learn and appreciate the finer points of visual art printmaking, lithography, serigraphs and collographs and collectors looking for unique works of art.

Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Art Theory and Philosophy and a Doctorate in Business Administration in Post- Colonial Art and Heritage Studies. He holds a Law and Art Diploma from Georgetown University, Washington, DC, and worked with Washington Area Lawyers Association. He worked as an intern in Psychology of Art and Remedial Art Therapy at the Lafayette School of Art Therapy for the Mentally Handicapped Children, in New Orleans, USA. He is an author, art critic, art consultant and a practising visual artist.