“THERE is something in this age about Zimbabwean artists and bright colours,” observed South African professor Thembinkosi Goniwe, setting the theme for a discussion on the country’s dynamic art scene.
His remarks were made at a September art writing workshop, a conclave for local writers organised by the ARAK Collection and curated by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.
Goniwe, an art historian, curator, and writer, led the three-day workshop on art criticism with the air of a grandmaster initiating students into the craft.
His comment on colour seemed to directly reference the work of visual artists like Wycliffe Mundopa, Again Chokuwamba, and Grace Nyahangare from the First Floor Gallery, alongside other notable figures such as Prudence Chimutuwah and Lionel Mbayiwa.
Chimutuwah’s work is distinguished by her bold, vibrant palette and recurring depictions of women, as well as her innovative use of materials — including paint and decommissioned Zimbabwean banknotes.
The use of colour is a particular hallmark of Again Chokuwamba’s work.
“In paintings such as “Drowning in my fears” (2025), “I’m Worthy” (2025), and the “Zvazvinondirangaridza” series, Chokuwamba’s characters often possess a seemingly unbothered gaze, their eyes casting a deeply thoughtful expression that is a prominent feature of his work,” notes the critique.
Executed in oil on canvas, his paintings showcase a careful juxtaposition of ultramarine blue with dashes of red, purple, sunset yellow, bottle green, black, and brown.
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While his colour palette reflects the symbolic tones found in Medieval or Victorian art, Chokuwamba works in the abstract, a contrast to Victorian realism.
This artistic expression is evident in works that include “Cleansing” (2024), “Chigaro Chinotef a” (2024), or “Zvekuzvitsvagira” (2024).
His solo project at the gallery has paved the way for greater recognition, including the Best Emerging Artist prize at the 2023 Zimbabwe Visual Art Awards.
Meanwhile, the FFGH trio of Mundopa, Chokuwamba, and Nyahangare is currently gaining international attention at the thirteenth edition of the 1-54 Contemporary Art Fair in London.
Their work is featured at Booth S16 at Somerset House, where the fair, which is the first and only international fair dedicated to contemporary African art, runs until October 19.
According to the FFGH, Nyahangare, who holds a certificate from the National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design, builds her practice on a foundation of printmaking and photography, which ‘inform both the technical and intellectual elements of her work.’
Like Chimutuwah, she employs a bold colour palette; her characters, mostly hand-printed paintings of women, appear as if in graceful motion.
Though young, Nyahangare has exhibited extensively worldwide, including in France, South Africa, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Nigeria.
“She spent three years living and working in the United Arab Emirates, which has impacted both her aesthetic and ideas about self as a person but also as a woman and now as a young mother,” her resume reads.
A great deal can be said about their FFGH stablemate, Wycliffe Mundopa.
A National Arts Merit Award winner for Outstanding Work in Two Dimensions in 2007 and the recipient of the prestigious FNB Art Prize in 2021, he is an internationally acclaimed artist.
The gallery itself has drawn comparisons between his work and that of Dutch masters like Rubens and Rembrandt.
With a career featuring over fifty solo and group exhibitions across the globe, the experience Mundopa has gathered will be invaluable in guiding Chokuwamba and Nyahangare, who are two of FFGH’s youngest artists.
