Bulawayo Conversations: Do Arists Ever Retire

Rashid is a painter, sculptor, poet, guitarist, teacher, and a handyman who describes himself as “the champion of African people” – amongst other things. Over the course of the next 2 hours, it is only when I bring up his achievements that he digs into a dusty box and pulls out his papers – awards, certificates and honours, for us to see. The man rarely talked about what he has done. Instead he gushes about other artists who shaped his career such as, Marshall Baron, Stephen Williams, Voti Thebe, Doreen Sibanda, Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Paul Goodwin, Derek Sherwood, Derek Huggins, Helen Lieros, and Raphael Chikukwa. There is a comforting honesty in his humility but his work quickly reminds you that he is in a league of his own. Jogee has never been considered restrained, he is an eccentric with the politest of manners.

His lifestyle is a walking advertisement for working with your hands and when he travels, he gets around on a bicycle. The walls of his home are littered with artworks, most of them his, but some from his peers. The first thing you see when he opens the door is a painting called ‘Not Yet Uhuru’. According to Rashid, his home has always been a cultural point since his childhood; “political discussions with his peers would take place under the watchful eye of his parents and sisters”. His sisters are still heavily involved in his art, often providing financial and emotional support. “I’m all for women’s emancipation, equal pay, equal opportunities. Without my very capable sisters I wouldn’t be able to survive”, he adds. Many who know Rashid personally will tell you there is nothing economical about his choice of words. Rashid can talk. We had come to see him to do a quick interview but ended up talking for hours. In fact, we had been talking for almost 35 minutes before I asked my first question: how did you get  into Art? To this Rashid replied, “At an early age in primary school, other kids in my class would come to me to draw anything artistic, from diagrams to maps for rubbers, fountain pens, pens, pencils, you know”. Ironically, his journey to Abstract Art started because, as Rashid stated, “First of all, I couldn’t draw very well, although later I found that drawing is very important. You can’t paint if you can’t draw”.

When I asked him how he paints since he “can’t draw so well”, his revelation of his process was just  as informal as our surroundings. His main influences in all his artistic works come from Eastern cultures – especially Sufism and the writings of Jal?l ad-D?n Muhammad R?m?, Indian percussionist music, popular music, Poetry, and African music. Somewhere between telling us which artists he listens to the most, Rashid breaks off into a Shona resistance song; which unfortunately I was not familiar with. “I love Shona music, Andy Brown – I taught him at Founders – and I knew Chiwoniso personally”, he said. An avid music fan, Rashid cannot create without the eclectic mix of Bob Dylan, Beyoncé, Cliff Richards, The Beatles, Rihanna, Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and Abdullah Ibrahim.  “Musicians”, he adds “are the most respected artists in all African cultures”.