Zimbabwe is slated to make its debut appearance at the 54th Venice Biennale grand visual arts festival to be held in Italy in June.
The exhibition is commissioned by Doreen Sibanda, the director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and curated by Raphael Chikukwa, curator at the Gallery.
The festival will feature works by four artists: Berry Bickle, Calvin Dondo, Misheck Masamvu and Tapfuma Gutsa. The works will be presented in the mediums of painting, photography, video installation and sculpture.
“This diverse group of artists, through their works, will examine the exhibition theme ‘Seeing Ourselves, Questioning the Zimbabwean Geographical Landscape’ and the space which it occupies from yesterday, today and tomorrow,” said Raphael Chikukwa.
Chikukwa will be go to Italy on May 19 and the artists will leave on May 25. The theme “Seeing Ourselves . . .”, seeks to explore Zimbabwe’s artistic practices that are innovative, self–reflective and critical. This creates new positions and a challenging question that asks:
“What is contemporary Zimbabwean art?” The exhibition will challenge “faulty and false” constructs of the past, present and future by presenting evidence of previously unacknowledged realities and narratives through contemporary pieces.
