adminStephen Garan’anga
The introduction of Zimbabwe’s Pavilion at the 54th edition of the Venice International Art Biennale, Italy in 2011 opened opportunity doors for other African countries’ participation at the global visual art platform of great significance. It’s compelling other African countries to question why they cannot be part of the world art discourse in this day and age after a long life of exclusion.
Zimbabwe’s Pavilion came as a shock to many as the country was at the peak of its current acute financial crisis accompanied by irreconcilable publicity by part of the Western world which emanated from Zimbabwe’s land reform programme of year 2000 and the political crisis that evolved to span for more than a decade.
But the high-end artworks at the country’s debut show at the International Art Biennale attracted many of its visitors and left them wanting to see what’s next.
Zimbabwe’s Pavilion at the 55thInternational Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia 2013 impacted as if it had been there since the inception of the event being visited by audiences in their tens of thousands.
Now the cut-off piece of the International Biennale by Zimbabwean artists is finally home for its people to digest the practitioners’ transformation of their visual perception into material form when interrogating the visions of our societal religious beliefs and the resultant impact on our native traditional ways of practices under the theme “Dudziro.
The five visual artists of two different generations who were tasked to tackle such a formidable theme are Voti Thebe of Ndebele origin and Rashid Jogee of Indian origin who began their practice long before Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980 and “born frees” Virginia Chihota and Portia Zvavahera of Shona origin as well as Michele Mathison of European origin who was born in Zimbabwe but lives and works mainly in South Africa in various fields that embrace fine art and design.
The practitioners gave it their all producing some of their most remarkable pieces which saw some realisation of significant sales and contracts.
Some of the sold artworks were collected before they could be part of their second exhibition that recently opened at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare.
The current show is intended to travel to the other National Galleries in Bulawayo and Mutare in a bid to minimise the trend of having some of Africa’s finest overseas art shows that never get to be seen by their people on home soil.
Senior artist Voti Thebe’s work at the at the Santa Maria della Pieta dwelled on the nation’s spirituality, observing traditional myths and fables associated with water, blood and animals as well as Christianity in its various forms in contemporary Africa.
He worked on wood carvings and paintings on canvas with a common aspect of design and graphic symbolism.
Rashid Jogee, a practising Muslim had huge complex canvases of non representational abstracts in oils and charcoal expressing the complexity of roles he has had to balance for his existence as an artist.
Portia Zvavahera painting on paper explored the various ways of the ever popular apostolic churches especially the role of women in the congregations, their devotion and vulnerability whilst Virginia Chihota in her colour drawing and printmaking explored symbols that represent and interrogate human relations.
Michele Mathison had an insight into the role of the mundane in people’s lives.
Whilst remarkable achievement has come through around the Zimbabwean Pavilion at both the 54thand 55theditions of the Biennale di Venezia in Italy many artists have been mumbling about the closed selection of artists for the event and the pedigree of some.
Many local experienced and established practitioners were of the opinion that such a high magnitude platform required the country’s exceptional from them.
There were also two or more letters that circulated on the internet that made no secret their disgruntlement with same selection process and the capability of some of the participants.
Unfortunately the baffled authors in some instances ended up personalising attacks on the executive director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Doreen Sibanda who has been the commissioner of the Zimbabwe Pavilion at both the 54thand 55theditions of the Venice International Art Biennale and the chief curator of the National Gallery Raphael Chikukwa who also has been the curator of the Zimbabwe Pavilion.
Responding to the attacks recently and laying facts on the table the chief curator of the National Gallery Chikukwa said that artists and the other unsatisfied parties need to understand the role of a curator for a gallery.
He said one of his main duties is to organise art exhibitions for the institution at home and beyond.
It is his responsibility to find artists he sees fit for a particular project without prejudices or influence from anyone.
He stressed how he sometimes privately engages others for opinion if necessary for certain projects.
Chikukwa expressed lengthily the various efforts he made to realise the country’s Pavilion at Venice International Art Biennale and his initial attempts for Zimbabwe’s participation at the event dating as far back as year 2007 before he even joined the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.
He said he is well vested with his duties as qualified personnel and if any exhibition was to flop under his curatorship he would be the one at the wrath of the people.
Online Reporter