National Gallery lines up exhibitions

During these 50 years the artists and their great sculptures have been the strongest ambassadors for Zimbabwe due to the many sculptures being displayed in Galleries and sold overseas to the rich people in the world, who need these strong inspirations from modest Zimbabwean men and women.
The artists knock on the stones from six in the morning till five in the afternoon and create wonder after wonder. Established artistes such as Sylvester Mubayi, Arthur Fata, Nobert Shamuyarira and the emerging Marian Nyanhongo, Godfrey Kututwa, Square Chikwada, Victor Fire and Bywell Sango, among others, whose works are on show at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, have acquired a unique combination of African traditions that continue to tell the story of our times.
It is in this vein that the National Gallery has lined up an exciting programme of exhibitions and is currently hosting an exhibition entitled Vhura Meso – Zimbabwean Roots in the 21st Century which is a tribute to the 23 selected stone sculptures made by 12 of Zimbabwe’s established and emerging sculptors, at the same time it allows the public to experience the greatness of these art pieces.
Tomorrow, the arts gallery opens a photographic exhibition by titled A Place called Home in its PG Gallery. The exhibition is a documentary by photographic journalist, Bethule Nkiwane.
It will also tomorrow open another exhibition, Changing Times, which is a journey through experimentation using various mediums by 13 National Gallery Visual Art School students.
Vhura Meso (Open your Eyes) reflects an authentic and original insight into the strong and complex heritage of our culture through the carving of stone. Inclusive to the exhibition are 12 beautiful paintings made by three emerging painters in Zimbabwe, namely, Richard Witikani, James Jali and Freddy Tauro.
According to a statement from the National Gallery, “Vhura Meso does not only allow us to view these pieces through subject and form, but it broadens our minds on questioning the distinction of content between first generation and the more contemporary artistes in expressing our history and cultural heritage”. Most of these art pieces will be on sale.
But photography has also become a powerful means of communication and a mode of visual expression that touches human life in many ways. Nkiwane’s 15 series photographic documentation relates the story of a widowed mother and her three children who sought shelter in an asbestos and plastic squatter house in the suburb of Mufakose. Her journey from a house to a squatter is one of a woman who did not give up when she came to a point were she could not sustain herself and her family.
This is a story of a woman who was once happily married, living in a good house with her husband. Unfortunately her husband died living her with three children to look after. Shortly after her husband’s death, her sisters-in-law chased her out of the house claiming possession of their brother’s property thus forcing her to relocate outside the house.
With no luck for proper shelter the rainy whether forced her to vacate to her now squatter house which she has been living in for almost three years. Having grown up in a house with an abusive step-mother this woman had nowhere to turn to for help. Today, all this woman wishes for is a better place to stay, where her children can go to school and have a better life than she has.
The photographs to be on exhibition give detail on the living conditions of the family, highlighting the soiled floor and the little, rain damaged furniture. Her life is like that of many who are living under such conditions. She survives on farming on a small piece of land and she also does laundry for different people. Her first born son dropped out of school after failing and his sponsors could not support him further and he is currently working for a businessman while the two young girls are on and off at school.
Meanwhile, Changing Times is an exhibition by 11 second-year and two third-year students containing an intense emotional load and a powerful aesthetic impact through their creative use of skill.
“In this exhibition, students reliably involved themselves in the material execution of the works to be displayed whereby the individual students’ creative process is characteristic and decisive, but the final work which is the end of the process, condenses itself iconographically and acquires the utmost importance.
“Secrets by Donald Chitana, Kunamata Pachivanhu by Darlington Muyengwa, Indecision by Lance Marimo, Ghetto Boy by Orbert Magutshwa Nyoni, Dance in a Trance by Thomas Ngirichi and Improve your Style by Tinashe Dziva are some of the works on exhibition which are in perfect harmony with the origins of feelings and were emotions are sought,” said the statement. “Indeed for the young artists, theirs is a journey of experimentation which they have embarked upon, in their chosen career as exuded in their artworks through different mediums and techniques; stone sculpture, screen printing, painting, drawing, mixed media, dry point, card print, pen and ink.”