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Njelele gallery explores urban art
Tinashe
Sibanda, NewsDay
October 30, 2013
https://www.newsday.co.zw/2013/10/30/njelele-gallery-explores-urban-art/
Njelele Art
Station in Harare is currently celebrating urban art and creative
expression on the gallery’s interior and exterior walls under
the exhibition Afropolicity, running until November 30.
The paintings
and mixed media photography reflect the urban identity and cultural
personality of cities in Zimbabwe.
Afropolicity
has 25 pieces on display, including a mural covering the front facade
of Njelele by globally-acclaimed graffiti artist Breeze Yoko from
South Africa.
There is also
mural in the back courtyard painted in collaboration with various
young local street artists and the exhibition inside the gallery
space includes exciting new works by prominent and established artists
including Misheck Masamvu, Calvin Dondo and Portia Zvavahera among
others.
“These
artists have exhibited extensively including at the Venice Biennale
alongside young emerging and hidden talent such as Isheanesu Dondo
and Erhuardt Muchemwa,” said Njelele founder and artistic
director, Dana Whabira.
She said the
local art community had responded positively to the exhibitions,
and attendance figures more than doubled at the official opening
on Saturday.
Whabira said
artists were excited by the new alternative platform for exhibiting
their works and were pleased with its focus on cutting-edge contemporary
media.
“The murals
are the first examples of real graffiti art in the city of Harare,
we now join neighbouring countries such as South Africa, Mozambique,
Botswana and Angola on having a vibrant urban art culture that infuses
warmth, personality, colour and texture onto the bland grey walls
of the cityscape,” she added.
Whabira said
the surrounding local community had expressed their pleasure at
the beautiful murals that beautify their surroundings, delight passersby
and attract new people into the area, which led to a new perception
and revitalisation of that part of downtown Harare.
The exhibition
preview offered a unique event for the local art scene that included
performances by The Monkey Nuts, Synik, Tulpa, Barbra Breeze and
Sista Zai, a DJ based in Melbourne.
“In the
coming year, Njelele will collaborate with international curators
and galleries to offer exhibition and exchange for local artists,”
Whabira said.
The next exhibition
at Njelele Art Station will be curated in collaboration with Village
Unhu, an artist collective led by Masamvu, which is expected to
open in February 2014.
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