CULTURE-ZIMBABWE: Activism Through Art

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Ish Mafundikwa

HARARE, May 5 1998 (IPS) - Through the eyes of a group of young Zimbabwean artists, the rising increase in violence against women and children in Zimbabwe has leaped further into the public domain.

A recent 10-day exhibition of art pieces, men and women of the National Art Heritage Fellowship (NAHF) took a stand against all forms of violence, particularly the increase in violence against women. “We are concerned and alarmed by the rise of violence against women, especially rape cases,” said Lucian Masaya, NAHF’s President.

The artists, who formed their organisation three years ago, approached the United Nations Fund for Women(UNIFEM) Southern African office for sponsorship for the exhibition. “The idea fitted in with this year’s International Women’s Day theme of ‘Violence Against Women – A Violation of Human Rights”‘, said Elizabeth Schauer of UNIFEM

The exhibition also was in line with one of NAHF’s objectives: “To represent audiences from all walks of life consistently with exhibitions and workshops so that women, children and men can witness how art portrays values of society, reflects social reality and experiences of struggles towards change…”

“Art is a medium of instruction. It portrays symbols in society and selling is not the bottom line,” said Lameck Kaya Moyo Zingano of NAHF.

The exhibition, which included mainly stone sculpture, ran concurrently with workshops on gender violence. Members of the organisation said they have gone beyond just producing and selling art, and have embraced causes on which they feel society needed to focus.

“In 1996 we had an exhibition marking World Culture Day, because we feel very strongly that cultural awareness is essential for a developing country like ours,” said Didani Masaya, a member of the artists’ group. But, the artists also weree aware that culture sometimes was used as an excuse for regressive practices such as discrimination, even acts of violence against women, and therefore they sought to use their art to educate on the good and bad of culture.

“Environmental awareness is very important and we need to know the impact of our actions on the environment,” Masaya added.

The artists first mounted an exhibition during a global Solar Summit held in the Zimbabwean capital two years ago. On their diary of future activities are exhibitions that will focus on poverty and health. For each showing, the artists make special pieces which reflect the theme they have chosen. For example, for the recent anti-violence display, Ronia Bvukurisi produced pieces ‘Desperate Mother and Child’ and ‘Tormented Child’, that captured the pain and agony of violence in the home.

‘Left Alone’, a marble sculpture by Didani Masaya, depicted a situation familiar to many young women: pregnant and rejected by their partners.

Tapiwa Chapo, using scrap metal managed to combine the various burdens of some women in the one piece, ‘Hard Times for A Woman’, which depicted the image of a pregnant woman, with another baby on her back and carrying firewood on her head.

The NAHF is concerned that the value of genuine art in Zimbabwe is being compromised by the mass production of stone sculpture, for which Zimbabwe is widely known internationally. This can become ‘airport art’, NAFH argues, and is a threat to the viability of ‘real art.’

‘Some people cannot tell the difference between serious art and tomatoes”, says Zingano, adding that art is being commercialised as a response to market forces. Noting that most Zimbabweans are not art collectors, the organisation is trying to make art more accessible to the man in the streets.

NAHF was instrumental in obtaining the Harare Gardens for artists to hold an exhibition in the city centre park in 1996. “Now, for a nominal fee, we have artists selling their art there every day of the week,” said NAHF’s President Masaya.

Lobbying the government to put an infrastructure that promotes art in place is also high on the priorities of the organisation. Noting that most of Zimbabwean art ends up overseas they feel it is important to develop a local market.

“What happens when the foreigners stop buying?” Masaya asked. “We would like the fellowship to go national, by having centres in each provincial capital so as to bring art to the people, instead of people being forced to wait and then travel to an exhibition.”