MOFFAT TAKADIWA – Vestiges of Colonialism
*Featured: Moffat Takadiwa, Bhiro ne Bepa (pen and paper), 2023, pen leftovers, computer keys and toothbrushes, 287.40h x 118.11w x 4.72d in
National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare
March 16 – June 30, 2023
“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. The recycled materials that make-up my artworks symbolize, in part, the transfer of power from Europe and how their detritus swallowed our landscape and handicapped our initial attempts at self-rule. My practice attempts to use this detritus and the ashes of our past to fertilize a brighter future. In one piece, I even burned the some furniture from the Rhodesian administration to grow a rose garden.”
Moffat Takadiwa
Moffat Takadiwa (b. 1983, Karoi) lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. Part of the post-independence generation of artists in Zimbabwe, Takadiwa has exhibited extensively across major institutions in Zimbabwe as well as internationally. Takadiwa also was a founder of Mbare Art Space in Harare where he plays a part in mentoring the growing artist community. Recent exhibitions include: Vestiges of Colonialism, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (2023, solo); A Love Letter to LA, curated by Storm Ascher, Superposition Gallery, Phillips Auction House, Los Angeles (2023); Nous sommes tous des lichens, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – château de Rocherch (2022); The Bull, Semiose, Paris (2022); Brutalized Language, Nicodim, New York (2022); Witch Craft: Rethinking Power, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles (2021, solo); This is Not Africa: Unlearn What You Have Learned, ARoS Museum, Denmark (2021); Mr. Foreman you have destroyed the farm, Semiose, Paris, France (2021, solo); INXS: Never Before Seen Major Works by Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, Zhou Yilun, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Son of the Soil, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2019, solo); Thread., Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA (2019); Stormy Weather, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, The Netherlands (2019); Second Hand: Selected Works from the Jameel Art Collection, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2019); Material Insanity, Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech, Morocco (2019); The Eye Sees Not Itself, Nicodim Gallery, Los Angeles (2018); and Chinafrika. under construction, Museum for Contemporary Art Leipzig (2017).
