HE has always had a prodigious talent when it comes to visual art.
Simbarashe Manhango Own Correspondent
His piece titled Cyanide propelled deep investigations concerning the wanton killing of elephants through cyanide poisoning after it was exhibited at the Victoria Falls Carnival the same year.
The inauguration of the Victoria Falls Carnival, was held last year in December and is now one of the latest festivals to be added on to the cultural calendar. Driven by his desire to witness freedom of expression through art and any other form of media triumph in this country, his works are reflective of his constructional ideas that continue to inform his diverse portfolio and multi-disciplinary approach.
This artiste attaches newspaper cuttings, cloth and painting together with other materials to create a kind of art that is known as collage.
According to Wikipedia, a collage is a work of art composed of numerous materials, such as paper, newsprint, photographs, ribbons or other objects attached to background support, such as plain paper.
The art comments on today’s political culture, greed, wealth, poverty, land degradation war, and tough financial times that have faced the country for over a decade. Meet Zimbabwean-based collage artiste Powell Matsongoni, one of the many artistes that exhibited at the recently-held Harare International Festival of the Arts (Hifa).
In exhibition at Hifa was one of his pieces titled My Money, that is made out of number of Press clippings with eye-catching headlines such as Value is Dead, Long Live Value, and Chisumbanje Ethanol Row Deepens.
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Other headlines likely to court controversy include 23 Arrested Over Farm Invasion, Tobacco Farmers Miss Target and How Much Longer Should This Suffering Continue?
A deceiving first sight on this piece might appear as just a cloth scattered with mere newspaper cuttings, but there is always something instructive in what you see.
With most of his newspaper clippings extracted from private media, mostly from NewsDay, Matsongoni says his will is to capture and express freely the history of Zimbabwe without fear and also market it internationally.
“My work is in itself a social commentary. No matter how tough the situation in the country, I should be given the freedom to express myself, because that’s the only way I can market the story of Zimbabwe,
“There shouldn’t be restrictions in terms of art, whether the good or the bad. I capture a lot of concerns through my art and this has helped me to widen my scope in terms of content,” said Matsongoni.
Professionally, Matsongoni studied textile, photography, ceramics, graphic arts and design at BAT Visual Arts Studios at the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe. Matsongoni says the formal training had enhanced his style of art and vision.
“Studying art professionally has taught me colour, balance and composition at a higher level such that I can fit anywhere in the world of art,” he said.
To date his works have been collected as far Chicago, through the initiative of Rosben Pottery, a company that works along with visual artistes and commercialising their work.
Matsongoni also won the award for best outstanding and creative artist out of a total 150 that were vying for the title.
His piece, Cyanide, won him a slot in the GreenLine Magazine, a conservation magazine that is concerned with the preservation of the environment. Matsongoni’s works are indeed a move towards changing perception, with their disparate subjects.
