BY DR TONY MONDA
Gone are the days when contemporary visual art was dominated and defined by concepts wrought and fabricated by male artists in Zimbabwe.
The post-independence, institutionalisation of gender equality in mainstream Zimbabwean society has seen the acceptance and acknowledgement of more indigenous contemporary women artists.
Zimbabwe is one of the few countries where traditionally and culturally, women have societal influence and power and gender equality in the socio-cultural and socio-political spheres of society. Women have the right to be seen and heard.
Although restrictions and prejudices about women practising art as a professional career still prevent many talented women from pursuing visual art as a career, new visual expressions, concepts, and content are currently being manifested by several young, indigenous Zimbabwean women.
One such artist is Grace Nyahangare whose artworks have been receiving accolades in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Zambia. The young painter’s practice is based on a foundation of printmaking and photography, which inform the technical and conceptual fundamentals of her work.
In her early twenties Grace spent three years living and working in the United Arab Emirates – UAE, as a migrant worker. This experience has impacted her aesthetic disposition and ideas about herself as a woman and now as a young mother. As an artist working in a space of cultural otherness, she explores in her work themes relating to societal disconnection, gender and self- reflection.
Born in 1996, in Harare, Zimbabwe, Grace Nyahangare’s graduated from the National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design in 2017 and has participated in over 35 group exhibitions since her first show as a student in 2015.
Nyahangare’s unique artwork is grounded in surrealism; often depicting irrational imagery on her canvases.
Her images develop through various metamorphic stages, starting as observations and photographs which are then made into monotypes. Her chosen media are acrylics and printers’ inks which evoke an unusual tactility and poignancy.
Over the years Grace has worked at diverse studios and galleries acquiring various artistic skills from painting workshops under the supervision of veteran artist John Kotze in 2015, and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe; to the 2016 SVA New York Animation workshop, the PPC Imaginarium Workshop in 2018 at the national gallery and the 2022: UNESCO Resiliart Accelerator, Motorepublik workshop in 2018: and the AtWork Workshop supported by the Moleskine foundation and Conducted by Simon Njami in 2018.
Some of her seminal exhibitions include 2015: Annual Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe 2015: Green shoots exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2016: Vana Baba Vanhasi/Fathers of today Exhibition Swedish embassy and National Gallery of Zimbabwe; 2017: Zvirikufaya Exhibition, Tsoko Gallery Harare Zimbabwe; 2017: Full Circle Exhibition, V54 Residence, Hong Kong; 2017:
Kuboneshango Women’s Exhibition, Henry Tayali Gallery, Zambia ; 2018: Afro-native Exhibition, Lusaka embassy Zambia; 2019: Maokwo, Refugee Week, United Kingdom; 2019: State of Mind exhibition, Gallery Delta; 2021: Chizvinozvino Exhibition Alliance Franchise de Harare.
After completing a three month residency in 2022, Grace joined First Floor Gallery in Harare where held her first solo exhibition titled “Hatikanganwe Asi Tinopora”, in 2023, a cathartic exhibition about her experiences in the United Arab Emirates. Grace also participated in the 2023: Investec Cape Town Art Fair, in Cape Town, South Africa. She lives and works in Harare.
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