Z$100 Trillion
Z$100 Trillion 2017 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints 82 x 163 cm
The Z$100 trillion note was the largest ever printed in Zimbabwe. It came at a time when hyperinflation had soared so high that it reached Z$300 trillion to the US dollar on the black market in February 2009. Shortly afterwards the Zimbabwean currency was abandoned and replaced with US dollars. The Z$100 trillion has become a collector’s item.
US$1 2017
US$1 2017 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints 72 x 173 cm
US dollars, legal tender in Zimbabwe since 2009 are referred to as ‘magirinhi’ – ‘greens’, ‘huni nyoro’ – ‘firewood that is not dry’ and ‘mashizha’ – ‘leaves’ which are usually green.
100 RMB 2018
100 RMB 2018 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints 83 x 168 cm
In 2015 the Zimbabwean Minister of Finance announced that they would make the Chinese yuan their main reserve currency and legal tender after China cancelled US$40 million in debts. However this has not materialised. Currently there are nine currencies that are legal tender in Zimbabwe but 90% of transactions are in US dollars.
Kuwona Hutsi 2017
Kuwona Hutsi 2017 Matchsticks outlining R.G. Mugabe’s signature and dirty US dollars from Zimbabwe 33 x 31 cm
‘Kuwona hutsi’ means seeing smoke in Shona in Zimbabwe. It is one of the metaphors that the Shona speakers created to communicate various messages concerning the socio-economic and political crisis that has been occurring in their country since the year 2000. ‘Seeing smoke i.e. having smoke in the eyes’ and by extension ‘being caught in a burning building’, all have the connotations of one being on an unsustainable, difficult, hopeless and confusing situation.
The Zimbabwe crisis as captured in Shona metaphor. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233222046_The_Zimbabwe_crisis_as_captured_in_Shona_metaphor
Zimbabwe Will Never Be A Colony Again 2016 Embroidered Zanu PF textile 115 x 117 cm
Mugabe liked to repeat the slogan ‘Zimbabwe will never be a colony again’ so often that the variation ‘Zimbabwe will never eat polony again’ began to do the rounds as a joke.
South Africans and Zimbabweans refer to bologna exclusively as polony, although polony is typically made using highly processed meat. These processed meat products are typically an artificially bright pink colour, and are foods for low-income people due to their low cost.
Zimbabwe (red) 2016 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints
80 x 120 cm
Plenty sits Still, Hunger is a Wanderer 2015
Plenty sits Still, Hunger is a Wanderer 2014 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints
110 × 150 cm
detail
The Original is Unfaithful to the Translation 2015
The Original is Unfaithful to the Translation 2015 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints
64 × 90 cm
The Original is Unfaithful to the Translation (detail) 2015
detail
Google Landscape Artifact 2015
Google Landscape Artifact 2015 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints
64 × 90 cm
Google Landscape Artifact (detail) 2015
detail
Samizdat 2011
Samizdat 2011 Page from The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism, in theory. Hand-woven ink-jet archival prints
28 x 19 cm
