eBusiness Weekly
Arts Correspondent
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe has a number of exhibitions lined up this year. The institution can hold over 12 exhibitions annually and each exhibition incorporates political, social, economic and religious aspects of the society.
These exhibitions can either be group exhibitions, international, solo or external exhibitions.
Each exhibition serves to tell a story as it explores each and every aspect of our daily challenges in the society as each artist works on their masterpiece.
From these exhibitions, the institution continues to promote art and also broaden the art business as it works together with other organisations.
Exhibitions fundamentally mirror the interests and concerns of society and from theme, to the way an exhibition is setup, to the way it is marketed is a reflection of societal benefits and anticipations. These reflect on what is important to the public and why it is important.
Exhibitions use a diversified range of strategies that are to be used to attract the audiences, connect on a personal and human level, even a universal level. This is basically one of the main objectives of an exhibition today which is to bring art to a place of significance that is relatable to the society.
The National Gallery tries to do so with the exhibitions already lined up for the first quarter of the year.
These are: Lost and Found — questioning the history of Zimbabwe and its colonial past, Future Africa Visions in Time and the women’s exhibition which is dedicated towards the international Women’s Day.
The month of January has two exhibitions which were overlapping from the previous year and these are the Zimbabwe Annual Art exhibition and Rough Diamonds exhibition.
The ZAAE has been exhibiting artworks done by aspiring local artists, while rough Diamonds which is dedicated towards the National Gallery of Zimbabwe’s School of Visual Arts and Design.
The first quarter of the year is filled with intriguing exhibitions. Each exhibition has some interesting works and some of these interlink with the nation’s recent political state.
February has one of the prominent exhibition of the first quarter of the year. The exhibition is titled Lost and Found: Questioning the history of Zimbabwe and its colonial past. This exhibition reflects on the social and economic fabric in the country in light of its most recent political upheaval.
The chief curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Raphael Chikukwa, stated that this exhibition revisits on the events that took place on the 18th of November 2017 with the coming of the new dispensation.
The exhibition will be featuring photographers based in different parts of the country. A number of photographers documented the event as it took place. What the audience can expect are photographs taken by a new breed of photographers such as Matthew Boka who used drones to capture the moments.
The exhibition is set to open on the 22nd of February.
Women’s exhibition is the next exhibition which is dedicated towards the commemoration of the International Women’s Day.
Of late, women are being given an opportunities to empower themselves and be able to generate their own income rather than depending on their male counterpart.
This has resulted in astonishing achievements around the world as women venture into careers that had been previously stated as masculine.
They have become role models for other women who have dreams of becoming leader. Since women play many important roles in the economic, political, cultural and social development; as it is in their nature to multi-task, the International Women’s Day is set towards celebrating women in art and the exhibition seeks to affirm the belief in equality between women and men; thus facilitating peace, security and human rights.
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe sees this as the day when women are identified for their achievements despite the stereotypes they face culturally, economically or politically. This exhibition is set to be opened on the 8th of March.
The last exhibition in the first quarter of the year is the Future Africa Visions in Time which is an external exhibition funded by the Zimbabwe German Society set to be opened on the 29th March.
This is a travelling exhibition which will project a local element. Evans Mutenga is among some local artists that will be exhibiting in this show.
The exhibition will explore diverse areas of research and debates generated by the Bayreuth Academy of Advanced African Studies since its inception in 2013.
The content presented in the exhibition originates from expansive collaborations between invited international artists and resident researchers within the academy. This results in innovative research that crosses visual and scientific attitudes.
From these exhibition there is hope that the art industry will continue to grow and encourage other business sectors to support art and local artists as the works in these exhibitions are for sale.
Chikukwa also stated that he hopes that those who did not take part in the 18th of November March will be able to experience the event in pictures in the Lost and Found exhibition from the artist’s point of view.
