Masimba Hwati is a well-known name in visual arts circles. He has a passion for the art and shares ideas and sentiments through his unique work.
He is a ceramic artist whose work revolves around objects that do not only catch the eye but also strive to give meaning to various unexplored themes.
Growing up in Highfield in an environment that did not really support art, Hwati had to fight against beliefs and norms to nurture himself into one of the most prominent visual artists in Zimbabwe.
Hwati practices what he relates to as assemblages with an element of installation.
“This is a new movement and it is still difficult to define since the ideas in these works have not been explored fully but it has its own space hence it is still evolving,” said Hwati.
Complementary to the testimony that Hwati is a visual artist of his own calibre who seeks to give definition and meaning to objects, is his recently launched exhibition at the Delta Gallery.
The exhibition, opened by Jill Coates of the British Council, is titled Facsimiles of Energy, a collection born out of four years of thorough research concerning the energy of objects.
“The energy of objects is their ability to provoke memories and ideas through visual interactions, the essence in my opinion is that all matter has the ability to attract, store and transmit subjective kinds of energies which are recognisable to the cognitive and emotive part of the human mind,” the artist explained.
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“My vision is to capture important energies and redirect or redistribute them so that my work will be the result of the transmutation of the energy”.
According to Hwati his works are based on the ideal that memories play a very important role in that they become the touchstone of expression through which ideas filter.
“My works attempt to strike equilibrium between the phenomena of my dreams and expression and depict reality, a type of reality which is not existent in the metaphysical realm but resides in the desires and aspirations of the people,” said Hwati.
Hwati is the 2006 National Arts Merit Awards winner of the Best Mixed media category.
He is a lecturer at the Harare Polytechnic College, an institution from which he acquired his diploma in Art in 2003.
He became a resident artist at Gallery Delta and stated practicing full- time fine art in 2004. Since then he has never turned back on pursuing his passion.
He has exhibited his work in Botswana, Zambia and France.
Most of his works and private collections have been auctioned in Europe.
