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The Inner Child Exhibition by Bekezela Mlilo
National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo
March 25, 2004

View photographs from the exhibition

The National Gallery in Bulawayo is a central focus for cultural activity in Matebeleland. The Gallery is responsible for the training and housing of artists, through its studios, for hosting local and international exhibitions.

As custodian of a growing Zimbabwean heritage, the Gallery is tasked with identifying, new emerging as well as existing artistic talent; to empower, mediate and mostly to celebrate. To offer a language that supercedes barriers of communication. To embrace values that depict who we are as a people of Zimbabwe.

The gallery's approach is to expose its members and immediate community to all forms of artistic endeavour, to underscore the role of art in development and the need for self-expression, and to activate our sense of creativity. The National Gallery in Bulawayo can continue with the involvement of large numbers of youth from marginalised areas such as the Bulawayo townships through community outreach programmes if it gets support from the business community. This will enhance the Gallery's importance and presence in our society. The Gallery's plea is for the creation of a fund, which will benefit the institute on a long-term basis.

Art in Zimbabwe today is a source of self-employment. It contributes significantly to our Gross Domestic Product and should be encouraged by funding artist's in various fields. Tourists come from all over the world to understand and appreciate our cultural identity. Art enables us to carry out a situation analysis of who we are. Our strengths and weaknesses are highlighted. Economic growth can manifest from a realisation of who we are, where we are coming from and where we are going.

This exhibition, "The Inner Child" is a reflection of the Gallery's deliberate move to promote creativity, ingenuity, innovation and growth. This exhibition is a true indication of what the people of Zimbabwe are experiencing today. No matter what social class one belongs to, through Bekezela's paintings, prints and drawings we converge to experience it all. Each piece provokes certain feelings. Feelings of sadness, rejection, loneliness, emptiness or a feeling of craving for more and better situations and conditions. The exhibition draws on contemporary culture by exploring social, economic and political conventions however in a subtle manner.

Bekezela shares with us his private life, his inner thoughts, his inner life, the "The Inner Child". An expression of very thoughts and feelings. To know and understand the artist, is to know and appreciate his work talks to you. Bekezela believes in the power of hands and feet in enhancing or destroying human dignity.

The works of art here are a mirror of our cultural identity, a link between the past, present and the future. The work has a rhythm, a spiritual presence and a symbol of hope. The display has an astonishing variety and expressive power, a range and strength that revolutionises art. A true reflection of shared experiences.

Zimbabwean artists have always been ready, in colonial times and in present times, to appreciate the complexity of our cultural identity. With an ability of self respect, they have managed to address the colonial intrusion and the many disasters of the current world.

The challenge, therefore, is to support art and the artists as a tool for economic and social independence. Let us invest in art and challenge the artists with more creativity.

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