Tsuktiben Jamir
In a statement to ArteMorbida, Moffat Takadiwa said, “Vestiges of Colonialism’ is about the urgent need to eliminate the remnants of colonialism in Africa and cure the continent from its colonial hangover. It has never been so important as it is now. Current African democracies only survive through the leftovers of colonial dispensation and the crumbs of our ugly history. When our economies are patched together with remnants from those days, we often overlook the West’s lasting overbearing influence over independent Africa.”
Born in 1983, Moffat Takadiwa resides and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. As an artist, he is most known for producing work using found materials; his sculptures are mostly constructed from consumer trash and urban wastes including computer keyboards, toothbrushes, aerosol cans and cheap perfume bottles.
Courtesy: Nicodim
‘Vestiges of Colonialism’ his first ever solo exhibition in Zimbabwe after a long hiatus of over a decade opened on 16th March 2023 at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and will be on display till the 30th of June 2023; an exhibition that sought to spark discussions on how colonialism impacted art and creativity as well as altering narratives about what visual art means. In addition to being a historic production, ‘Vestiges of Colonialism’ also serves as a topical forum for discussion of colonial legacies in Zimbabwe. As one interacts with the pieces, they reveal subtle remnants of colonial constructs that are still permeating Zimbabwean culture and having an effect on people’s lives today.
Regarding the exhibition, Takadiwa told Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation, ‘‘After like 10 years of exhibiting in international spaces, the first thing which came into my mind when I was thinking about this show was sculpture was a big thing in the 50s, so I had to change narratives around what is sculpture. One of the things I have been doing or I’m doing is I have introduced soft sculpture. Soft sculpture is more about arranging objects and I have introduced things like vegetables. So, there are so many elements.’’
Upon entering the gallery, the visitors are instantly struck by the spectacular sculptures displayed on the two-story wall. This sculpture series, ‘Korekore Handwriting’, is the artist’s acknowledgment of the individuals who influence his practise and is made from toothbrush heads and computer keys. Belonging to the Korekore people of Zimbabwe’s broader Shona ethnic cluster, Takadiwa’s practises are heavily influenced by the community’s culture of weaving and the sense of community in the collective means of labour; this is his attempt at reviving the rich culture of his community which otherwise died down out due to colonisation.
Courtesy: Twitter/Beth_Jdv
A series of wall-mounted sculptures titled ‘Colonial Product’ features a disassembled and burned colonial dining table that has hundreds of nails driven into it; these works are connected to “Sando Dzako” (Big Up), which is meant to portray the statement that it is time to address the elephant in the room and have a dialogue concerning colonial presence.
Moffat Takadiwa, a native of Harare, Zimbabwe, assembles hundreds, often thousands, of isolated bits of an abandoned home and industrial debris to form complicated assemblages. He told Mottprojects, “I want to start a dialogue around colonial residue in Africa and how it is causing a lot of challenges in contemporary Africa and in Zimbabwe particularly.”
Exhibition Dates:
March 16 – June 30, 2023
Venue:
National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare
