Art Gallery readies for the Bulawayo Art and Craft fair

Peter Matika, Senior Life Reporter
THE Bulawayo National Art Gallery is ready to host its maiden edition of the Bulawayo Art and Craft Fair, as it seeks to develop it into an international fair.

The fair will run concurrently with the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

In an interview, gallery assistant curator and organiser of the fair Clifford Zulu said they were in the process of allocating booths and stands to those participating in the fair.

“This will be an interesting event for Bulawayo. So far we have exhibitors from Bulawayo, and other surrounding towns and cities, as well as the capital. This is the first and we want to turn it into an annual event. The idea being that we want to turn it into an international event. So through this year’s event we will see how it goes,” he said.

Zulu mentioned that they intended to open the fair’s doors to the African continent.

“We want to taste the waters before we go international. In 2017 we will open the fair to the African continent then in 2018 we want to rebrand it to be known as the Bulawayo International Art Fair,” said Zulu.

The fair has already been perceived as an important event in the arts sector, with many artists saying this would be the ideal platform to exhibit their works.

Art and culture professionals will have the opportunity to meet and participate on various platforms like exhibitions, presentations and workshops pursuing and interrogating the current state of art and curatorial practice in the country.

The National Gallery enjoys its mandate and has shaped the curatorial practice in Zimbabwe that has enabled new players to occupy the creative spaces spearheading the visibility of Zimbabwean art locally, across the globe and returning back home to adapt, improve, transform and implement home grown solutions to our creative work.

“We are transforming the traditional model of the ‘Craft Fair’ to a curated event presenting emerging artists, craft makers and designers an opportunity to benefit from this prestigious creative space at a professional level,” said Zulu.

He added that they already confirmed participation from the Bulawayo Polytechnic School of Art and Amagugu.

“We will have a number of resident artists and other arts sectors exhibiting their works,” he said.