Kudzanai Chiurai Untitled XVII (Thinking of the Wicked), 2019 Mixed media on Saunders archival cotton rag paper Work: 125 x 100 cm
In much of his artistic practice, Kudzanai Chiurai has been concerned with the cyclical contradictions of the so- called postcolony as a site of struggle, liberation, conflict, and patrimonial autocracy. His works often address aspects of Pan- Africanism and the history of colonial resistance in Africa that are often disregarded.
In an interplay between text and image, Chiurai employs a revisionist strategy to disrupt what he refers to as ‘colonial futures’ – embedding alternative memories into history that remedy the omissions inherent to the colonial project. As a series, titled ‘Drawings and Paintings from the Radical Archive’, Chiurai's new works pay homage to posters generated for the purpose of inciting public into political action in what is now remembered as the turbulent 1970s of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe.
By excavating these press-to-public posters and rendering them as paintings, the artist calls to attention the meditative processes required of both the painter and poster designer. The timelessness of the slogans and anthems appearing in the original posters is reiterated within Chiurai’s collage as a painful echo of their continued relevance in present day protest actions. In so doing, the artist and works highlight the role of cultural unity and division, biopolitics, and intersections of identity, in creating the intensely multifaceted nature of postcoloniality within Africa.
