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A Welsh artist has been selected to exhibit her work to audiences and galleries in southern Africa.

Artes Mundi prize nominee Sue Williams will have her vivid drawings exhibited in the National Galleries of Zimbabwe this spring. Wales Arts International has co-ordinated a tour of a selection of the work from Sue Williams's well received 2006/7 UK exhibition 'small talk, high heels'. Curated by Karen MacKinnon of the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, this mixed media and drawings exhibition explores the role of the female within a male dominated environment.

Addelis Sibutha, Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo, visited Wales in March 2006 and was much taken by Sue's work. She was determined to have the artist exhibit in Zimbabwe and is delighted to be welcoming her to the National Gallery. Sibutha said: "It's just a dream come true for us at the Gallery to host an international artist. Not just an ordinary artist but one that was short-listed for the most prestigious Artes Mundi Visual Arts Prize. Sue works with an amazing energy, enthusiasm and intelligence. She explores pertinent social issues through expressive visual art. Sue will no doubt offer the Zimbabwean viewer a glimpse of life in UK, in Wales; and show that all humans have universal needs despite being located in different geographical settings on earth. To the artists, Sue's work will offer a new approach to painting and drawing - a new lease of life that will inspire and open up new ways of imagining. We certainly look forward to the celebration and forever express our gratitude to Wales Arts International and the British Council."

Sue Williams is thrilled with this opportunity. "Since the Artes Mundi 2006 my work has been received well by a number of curators from across the world. This tour to Zimbabwe not only offers my work a broader audience but I feel privileged to be asked by the people of Bulawayo and Harare as they are clearly unable to develop connections with the outside world that can allow them to witness other cultures beyond their own. I am keen that this tour will not only offer the people of Zimbabwe an insight into another world but hopefully, given time, will enable collaborations between the two worlds."

Originally from Cornwall, but now living and working in Cardiff, Sue has already made her mark on an international platform having being short-listed as one of twelve artists for the prestigious Artes Mundi, Wales's International Visual Art Prize in 2006. Prior to that, she took part in many important exhibitions and residencies including the National Eisteddfod of Wales (Gold Medal Winner 2000), The Rootstein Hopkins, London Painting Award (2000) the Avesta Biennial, Sweden (2000) and the Site-actions Project in New York (2001).

Opening on the 8th of February in Bulawayo, the exhibition will then move to Harare on the 8th of March, in line with the Gallery's Golden Jubilee Celebrations and to coincide with International Women's Day. This is especially fitting given Sue's passion towards feminist issues, which inspire so much of her work.

Approximately 300 drawings will be mounted on the walls of The National Galleries, in addition to which Sue Williams will be painting and drawing directly onto the walls. This site-specific element of the exhibition is an exciting extension to Williams's practice and will offer Zimbabwean audiences an unique insight into her methodology and energy.

This exhibition stems from a curators' study visit organised by Wales Arts International to coincide with the Artes Mundi Prize in 2006. Wales Arts International invited three curators from southern Africa to join nine other international curators for a study tour in South Wales during March 2006. Subsequently, Sue Williams was invited to take part in the Intwasa Art Festival in September 2006 where she delivered inspiring workshops to the communities of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

Sue Williams's exhibition tour to southern Africa is supported through partnership working between Wales Arts International and the British Council and consists of an important element of a potentially extensive programme of work being developed between Wales and the countries of southern Africa.

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