Ilizwe-Nyika-Nation collaborative

We are thrilled to see the first collaborative project take off at the Gallery. We wish to welcome Deboarh Weber, Jolene Cartmill and Elgin Rust, visiting artists from South Africa in collaboration with Bulawayo artists Lady Tshawe, Shamilla Aasha, Zandile Masuku and Nomvuyiso Mabi Mpofu.

You are invited to the Collective Open Studio, exhibition and performance on Sunday 8 September from 2pm.

The 10 day (1 to 10 September) collaborative is developing a body of work based on title Nyika is the Shona word for nation, state or country, this new collaborative art project has been initiated by members of the multidisciplinary collaborative art projects Karoo Disclosure (2014) and Ubulungiswa Justice (2015) and will be assisted by Curator Cliford Zulu.

This residency aims to create a new multidisciplinary collaborative work investigating different values and ideologies attached to land, national identity, boundaries and belonging in Southern Africa and aims to encourage collaboration between South African and Zimbabwean artists across artistic disciplines.

Land is a sensitive issue in both South Africa and Zimbabwe with both countries colonial histories, struggles for independence and forced removals. Land ownership and land rights are still contentious issues in the neighboring states.

This projects seeks to work with musicians, sound artists and installation artists as a live collaborative performance in the Bulawayo National Gallery along-side talks and discussions about previous projects.

Karoo Disclosure is a multidisciplinary art collaboration about fracking in the Karoo and has been shown at the Iziko South African Museum, Cape Town (2015) and the Oliewenhuis Museum in Bloemfontein (2017). Following this project was Ubulungiswa/Justice multidisciplinary collaborative work shown at the Michealis School of Fine Arts UCT (2015), AVA Gallery in Cape Town (2018) and most recently Ghana Chale Wote Street Art Festival (2018).