A Gathering presents a world of possibility. It responds to the modern social isolation and disconnection trend, which can negatively affect mental health and well-being. The exhibition explores conversations around strengthening social bonds and creating a more resilient and supportive socially conscious community. At the heart of everything is the desire to invest in various networks, look for possibilities and ask questions about what unknowing and different ways of seeing can do for all of us. Why do we gather? Human beings are social animals. We gather to commune and to keep connected. The gathering is a form of revillaging, creating opportunities for people to come together, share their experiences, and build relationships.
Enhancing the Stone pays tribute to a community and a way of life that has shaped how we see stone and the possibilities this versatile material represents. This exhibition celebrates a community long respected for its unassuming artifice and naivety. Celia Winter Irving wrote: “Blomefield’s mentorship had little sense of the paternalism of white supremacy ...nor has he imposed his European way of life and its values upon the artists.” Stone sculpture collectors and connoisseurs have long admired the many beautiful works to come out of Tengenenge. Nestled in the horseshoe mountain range, the Tengenenge community is one of the few remaining centres which spearheaded the Zimbabwe stone sculpture movement.
An enclave against the residues of colonialism that pervades the known world today, this exhibition analyses how discursive repertoires and cognitive biases continue to (re)appear within the after-colonised world and activate a particular mode of production based on geographic inequalities in working conditions and prospects. The exhibition interrogates the imbalances that still exist within the system of production underpinning the social life of objects and their environmental impact and show that, far from solely exploring the remnants of the colonial era. Takadiwa’s work is also important when talking about language, the role of language in forming national and cultural identity and what activism can look like.
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe is pleased to present, Walls of Perception, an exhibition featuring new visual and audio work from artists based in Zimbabwe. The last Pandemic drew itself out over the course of three years; in its spell, world-weariness captured the minds and souls of the greater swathe of the population. In that bleak length of time, the far-fetched became actuality, to such a point where the question of existence as simulation became tangible and all too lucid in some cases. As such, the operation of existence, its pliancy riddled with the sought after escapist pursuit can be drawn to the metaphoric code;
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe is pleased to present We Should all be Human, an exhibition commemorating International Women’s Day. Embracing the International Women’s Day theme, Embrace Equity, the exhibition features new and old works relating to diversity and inclusion and levelling the playing field. This exhibition traces all kinds of lines, finding unexpected points of connection in issues of equity and parity. It invites voices to talk to one another, seeing what different perspectives can offer, opening up new ways of looking and listening by tracing lineages around certain behaviors that sideline others.