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Tafadzwa Zimoyo Senior Arts Reporter
Canada-based Zimbabwean award-winning visual artist, David Chinyama, is set to have a joint exhibition with Canadian artist of Jamaican origin Curtia Wright, titled “Converging Passages”, which will run from January 31 to February 15 at Gallery 918 Bathurst, Toronto.

The exhibition will be celebrating the beginning of Black History Month which is an annual celebration of achievements by African Americans. It will be Chinyama’s first major exhibition since moving to Toronto in 2017.

In an interview, the 42-year-old painter said was excited to take part at the exhibition which explores and celebrates relevance of the African Heritage and culture in the diaspora especially within the Canadian multicultural society.

“I am so excited to take part at this exhibition together with Curtia Wright. I will be exhibiting 10-12 pieces on the show and we decided to mount this show in honour of this very important event within the calendar of people African origins and communities in diaspora,” he said.

He said all the pieces were made up of mixed media showing how his work has evolved over the past two years.

“I am happy that l have managed to find myself again after all these years hence my works represent who l am.

“I went back to the drawing board where l had sit down and come up with new directions that represent the real me as an African artist.

“This is an important exhibition to me since entering the Canadian art scene because there are many visual artists here and getting a breakthrough is difficult,” he said.

Chinyama said he believes this would shape and cement his presence as a major player within Canadian art scene.

“My palette has not changed that much but l can testify it’s now toned down a little bit. It’s always my desire to leave legacy of contribution to arts. With God’ grace and if life permits, there are lots of things l would like to undertake and personally accomplish. Only time will tell, for now all that l have to do is keep working hard,” he said.

Chinyama’s work explores subject matters often centred upon aspects of identity, political, socio-economic and religious connotations.