A traditional Zimbabwean proverb says “Zvikomo zvikuru zvinopana mhute ” literal translation is that big mountains pass to each other clouds of mist.
It is often used in reference to sharing ideas and inspiration.
This became evident when US based Iranian artist Bahar Behbahani took a tour of the All Afrika Village (AAV) with founder and director of Dzimbanhete Arts and Culture Interactions (DACI) Chiko Chazunguza.
The New York-based artist was raised and educated in Iraq and relocated to the USA in 2020. She currently teaches and practices from Brooklyn. Her work which involves painting, performance, and installation is largely inspired by the concept and philosophy of the Persian garden.
Behbahani was in Harare for a month-long residency on an Apex Art fellowship. She interacted with several prominent personalities from the capital’s cultural circuit that include Daves Guzha at Theatre In The Park, writer Percy Zvomuya, Mono Mukundi at Monolio Studios, Albert Chimedza and Antonella Bargione at the Mbira Center, Fadzai Muchemwa at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, and Valerie Kabov at First Floor Gallery.
A unique aspect of the Apex Art Fellowship is that it offers individuals an opportunity to get immersed in local experiences without the constraint of having to create work. Behbahani took time to visit the Great Zimbabwe Monument, enjoyed local cuisine at a popular local joint, and experienced the mystical Mbira DzeNharira in performance.
According to DACI “The All Afrika Village is a cultural, educational, and creative initiative exploring indigenous architecture, cultural exchange, knowledge systems, and future African spatial thinking.”
The project was prompted by existential questions such as “What if one of the world’s greatest untapped knowledge infrastructures is sitting in Africa… hidden in oral systems, indigenous architecture, ecological memory, ritual, craft, language, and community practice?”
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All Afrika Village is an ongoing project and a place in metamorphosis. The forest is not tampered with and the grass keeps striving to reclaim the pathways. In the dry season trees shed their leaves and blades of dead grass fold to the ground. Insects seeking shelter from the scorching sun, and to escape from predators crawl under the fallen leaves and burrow under the parched earth. When the wet season arrives, rain washes away sand from the pathways, water bubbles out the tinny burrows, and the forest explodes into variegated colours and a symphony of sounds. The changing seasons also affect the walls, the thatch, and the poles supporting the traditional African structures. Between renovations harsh weather strips away the burnished lustre of the buildings, giving them a naturally rustic aesthetic.
It was on a chilly late afternoon of the dry winter that Behbahani’s boots trod over Chazunguza’s footprints as they followed narrow winding paths going from one homestead to another. On any other day the conversation would have carried on like a practiced lecture. On this day a different response scrambles the script. Chazunguza’s words find space to transition from academic abstraction to a conversation between peers. As they quickly recognise each other as kindred spirits it becomes a spiritual communion. Behbahani reflects that it was “As if I met someone who understands something simple and difficult at the same time. You don’t wait for the perfect moment. You build. You gather. You sweat. You bring the village together in whatever form is possible.”
To the Tehran born artist, the All Afrika Village was “A dedication more than a project. An architectural idea made visible, almost like a teaching space. Each part of Africa represented through dwelling forms, materials, ways of building, ways of living. It feels like walking through knowledge. Not display, but practice. Techniques, traditions, intelligence that was never absent, only ignored.”
In her own practice Behbahani approaches landscape as a metaphor for ‘politics and poetics’ as she explores the relationships between nature, place, people, and politics. Like Chazunguza, her work is guided by ecological and ancestral knowledge. Finding parallels to her own work she remarks that such projects are "A reminder that ‘ancestral’ is not past tense.”
For Dzimbanhete, Behbahani’s words and reactions are well-timed. Her response was anticipated way before she stepped foot on the continent when DACI released the statement, “It has been a profound journey of cultural preservation, yet for those of us at DACI who stood at the first turning of the soil, we have always felt a quiet longing for a missing resonance.”
About reviewer
Nyadzombe Nyampenza is an Art Critic, Photographer, and Conceptual Artist. In 2023 he was the NAMA recipient for Outstanding Journalist (Print). He was awarded Second Prize at the Zimbabwe Annual Art Exhibition (2016), and represented Zimbabwe at Bamako Encounters (Photography Biennale) in Mali (2015). Nyadzombe was the 2020 Fellow at Apex Art, in New York City. He is passionate about non-fiction creative writing and his ambition is to raise public awareness about visual arts from Zimbabwe through engaging, accessible, critical, and entertaining narratives.
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