FOCUS ON BLACK ART

For Kimberly Tatenda Gakanje, art is not simply the production of images, but a way of navigating life — a process shaped by emotion, memory, doubt, play and transformation.

Raised by his grandmother, William Joseph Kachinjika’s artistic practice grows from close observation, manual labour, and lived experience.

Sean Mpetiwa’s works are self-portraits of a generation: vibrant, fleshy, ever-moving figures that map the everyday life, joys, anxieties, and survival strategies of Zimbabwean youth.

When we first met with Frank Nkosiyabo, I was struck by his exuberance—an active, focused energy that informs not only the way he handles paint, but the way he steers his own career

Amanda Shingirai Mushate’s paintings resemble maps, where fluid lines and vibrant color blocks unfold into complex universes. As she explains, they are emotional landscapes, charting her past, present, and imagined future. Their fluidity and sensitive rhythm also convey a distinctly female experience, while for the artist painting is a way of following music, rhythm, and flow—her brushstrokes moving fast or slow, in tune with the song.

First Floor Gallery Harare presents Maoko Maranda, a new body of work by Zimbabwean artist Tashinga Majiri. Here, hands are never just hands — they become metaphors for identity, memory, and resilience. They carry stories of labor and struggle, but also of tenderness and creation. In this conversation, Majiri also speaks about hands as characters, the rhythm linking his poetry and paintings, and the dialogue between tradition and contemporary life.

When I first encountered Grace NYAHANGARE (Zimbabwe) work, what struck me most were the figures—their fluid, shifting forms. They immediately reminded me of how women adapt to the many situations life demands of us: how we bend, reshape ourselves, heal, and keep moving forward.