Zimpapers Logo

Chiko Chazunguza

Arts Reporter

Talante contemporary artist Chiko Chazunguza is in South Africa for Jo’burg Arts Fair that begins tomorrow at the Sandton Convention Centre.Chazunguza will represent Zimbabwe together with a team of curators comprising Fadzai Muchemwa assistant curator and Tandazani Dhlakama: curator of education.

This is part of the “Seuswa/ Akin to Grass” exhibition, a solo show by Chazunguza who represented Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennial of 2015 project.

The exhibition which was made possible by the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe deliberately sets to defy the moment when the camera meet with the African continent specifically the moments when people were disconnected from their geographical spaces.

In his two paintings, print as well as in his installations Chazunguza is known for experimenting with a variety of materials, including objects of everyday African life, challenging issues of subtle colonial conditions in Africa on land distribution, food insecurity, degradation of indigenous spirituality, traditional order and rituals. “Seuswa” interrogates memory, history and identity.

In an interview, the visual artist said he was happy to take part at the fair.

“I will represent my country well and trust me Zimbabweans are known for their talent and I will display some of my new and old art works,” he said

Chazunguza is a Zimbabwean visual artist and provocateur, whose multi-disciplinary artworks raise searching questions about the post-colonial condition and about the unstable role and nature of art in its post-colonial context.

He was born and raised in Highfields, Harare and earned his MFA at the Institute of Pictorial Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria.

He is the recipient of numerous awards and has exhibited in several group and solo shows on the continent, in Europe and North America where his work has also been collected.

He is the founder of the arts and culture resource centre Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions which could be the answer to the future of Zimbabwean contemporary art.