IN Zimbabwe, hunhu is a cultural belief system that instructs us to embrace our neighbours, honour our elders and respect each other’s rights.
Also known as ubuntu, it’s a way of being that resonates with southern Africa’s interconnected, but diverse communities, where generational wisdom and values are passed from elders to the young.
Hunhu is a central idea in the latest solo show by prominent young artist Option Dzikamai Nyahunzvi on at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.
Called Zvatiri (Who We Are), the exhibition is an appeal to Zimbabweans to reclaim their culture and values.
A young African man with dreadlocks stands in front of a colourful painting wearing an elaborate feathered headpiece.
His main focus has always been Shona identity.
Shona is a collective term for several related clans in the country.
Nyahunzvi, born in 1992, has also always explored issues of identity, origins and belonging in his multidisciplinary work.
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His paintings retain Zimbabwe’s art traditions, often in original ways.
The exhibition, for example, includes paintings created using his own unique technique, pasting Fabriano paper directly onto the canvas to create layers.
He then cuts into the layers to make visible etching lines that reference the printmaking styles of artists that came before him.
The dominant black and white zebra motif in his work is an ode to his Mbizi totem (a clan symbol called a mutupo, in the form of an animal or plant).
His installations use materials drawn from his culture.
He also engages audiences through live-art performances.
At the opening, Zvatiri was activated through a performance in which the artist assumed the role of the mhondoro, a spirit medium connecting the living with the sacred energies of the ancestors.
This was also an act of decolonisation — the gallery was originally a British colonial building officially unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II.
I (BTM) am an art historian and critic with a focus on art traditions of southern Africa.
I caught up with Nyahunzvi (ODN) to ask him more about the show.
BTM: I missed the exhibition’s activation, but I see midziyo (sacred objects) from the performance are installed in the gallery. Would you tell me more about it?
ODN: Zvatiri is an introspective journey, a tapestry of memories, and a celebration of our heritage.
The exhibition features a mix of paintings, installations and interactive elements that weave together the complexities of Shona culture and identity.
Midziyo, yes, the traditional instruments, are part of the narrative, inviting viewers to listen to the whispers of our ancestors.
The show is a sensory experience, a dance between the past and the present, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
BTM: Music and dance are part of our multilayered Shona culture. I think of Zimbabwean musician Oliver Tuku Mtukudzi lamenting the loss of our values in the song Tsika Dzedu. I am also processing your work through South African academic and writer Njabulo Ndebele’s Rediscovery of the Ordinary, a seminal essay in which he reminds us to direct our energies on the ordinary, the everyday.
What made you explore the concept of Zvatiri now? This notion of who we are, embedded in our cultural beliefs and communicated through our everyday expressions. Are we losing sight of
the ordinary?
ODN: Zvatiri is a question that has lingered in my mind for a long time.
As I navigated the complexities of growing up Shona, I began to appreciate the beauty in the everyday, the rituals, the stories, and the traditions that shape us.
Tuku’s question, “Tsika dzedu dzakaendepi?” (Where have our values gone?), resonates deeply.
We often chase the extraordinary, forgetting the power of the ordinary, the mundane, and the everyday.
This show is a love letter to the ordinary, a reminder to cherish and honour our roots.
BTM: What do you hope would be the biggest take-away for the audience?
ODN: I hope Zvatiri sparks a sense of curiosity, a desire to explore, and a deeper connection to our shared heritage.
The biggest take-away would be the realisation that our stories, our traditions and our values are worth celebrating.
It’s an invitation to reclaim our narratives, to honour ancestors and to acknowledge the beauty in our diversity.
It’s a conversation starter, a catalyst for introspection, and a celebration of who we are, collectively and individually.
BTM: This is a special show for Zimbabwe. Martinican writer and philosopher Édouard Glissant called for a “right to opacity” which I read as our right to remain illegible, or opaque (ungraspable), especially to the western world. Are you not giving away too much of our sacred rituals?
ODN: Ah, the age-old question! Zvatiri is not about revealing secrets or exposing sacred rituals.
It’s about sharing our culture, our stories and our traditions with the world.
BTM: For me the show comes at a time of social media and digital life, a time when most Zimbabwean families are dispersed — and disintegrated — due to migration in search of jobs. And some families no longer have elders there to provide guidance.
ODN: We live in a global village, and our stories are part of the fabric of humanity.
I’m sharing our narrative, our way, not to exoticise, but to connect, to share, and to celebrate the richness of our heritage.
Our rituals are not hidden; they are part of who we are, and I’m proud to share that with the world.
— The Conversation
