National Gallery of Zimbabwe host talented young Zimbabwean artist with funding from Switzerland


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Local news, 08.11.2017

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare will from 9 November – 8 December host a solo exhibition entitled "We Need New Names" by Kudzanai Chiurai an internationally acclaimed young Zimbabwean artist supported through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation’s (SDC) Regional Arts and Culture Programme managed by Pro Helvetia Johannesburg.

National Gallery of Zimbabwe host talented young Zimbabwean artist with funding from Switzerland
Kudzanai Chiurai, Genesis [Je n'isi isi] IV, 2016. © National Gallery of Zimbabwe

Chiurai’s first solo exhibition in Zimbabwe includes recent and previously unseen work: photographic prints, drawings, oil paintings, video, and installation; alongside paintings from the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’s permanent collection, material from the National Archives, and the artist’s own personal archive of posters and vinyl records.

The show follows on the heels of another yet successful Chiurai’s solo exhibition"We Live in Silence" at Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg in October, in which  he considered themes of post-colonialism and colonial futures, and posed the question "what next for African people?"

The title of the exhibition refers to NoViolet Bulawayo’s debut novel, which explores the intersection of traditional and Christian values; patriarchal structures and gender roles; memories of ‘home’ before and after Zimbabwe’s independence and how identity has changed through interaction with Western cultures.

Chiurai’s exhibition will also result in a collaboration with Pan African Space Station (PASS) which will have a Popup broadcast from the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. The PASS Popup programme will be prepared by a pan African platform called Chimurenga that specializes in linking audiences with various writings and artwork. The PASS sessions in Harare will bring together a broad spectrum of local artists, performers, writers, musicians and audiences, to participate through conversations, performances and happenings that provoke us to rethink about our histories and to speculate on our futures through artistic and cultural practice.

Chiurai’s work has been showcased in Frankfurt in 2014, the USA in 2015 and in London in 2016.