Hamba Mukwirikwiri 2017
Hamba Mukwirikwiri 2017 Found plastic-weave bag, custom-made tartan fabric 65 x 70 cm
Hamba Mukwirikwiri (detail)
Patience Can Cook a Stone
Who No Know Go Know 2017
Who No Know Go Know 2017 Found plastic-weave bag, custom-made tartan fabric 65 x 70 cm
Who No Know Go Know (detail)
Plenty Sits Still Hunger is a Wanderer 2017
Plenty Sits Still Hunger is a Wanderer 2017 Found plastic-weave bag, custom-made tartan fabric 65 x 70 cm
Plenty Sits Still Hunger is a Wanderer (detail)
The Past is a Foreign Country 2017
The Past is a Foreign Country 2017 Found plastic-weave bag, custom-made tartan fabric 65 x 70 cm
The Past is a Foreign Country (detail)
Heidi und Heinz in Afrika 2017
Heidi und Heinz in Afrika 2017 Blaudruck cotton fabric, hand-made at Einbecker Baludruck, Einbeck, Germany 70 x 71 cm
Thanks CAT Cologne
‘Shweshwe’ cloth is also known as ‘German print’, ‘sejeremane’ in Sotho, ‘ijeremani in Zulu and ‘ujumani’ in Xhosa after 19th century German and Swiss settlers who imported blaudruck (blue print) fabric. They used it for their clothing and helped entrench it in South African culture.
My grandfather came from Switzerland in the 1930s and settled in Zimbabwe where he built the house that I grew up in and where later, my parents were attacked by a gang of thieves. They were beaten black and blue with golf clubs and left Zimbabwe soon afterwards.
In October 2017 I was invited by CAT Cologne to do a residency in Germany. I was fortunate enough to work in Einbeck at the oldest factory in Europe still producing blaudruck, founded in 1638.
Using the blue print (blaudruck) of the house my grandfather built and stylised bruises (bruise as blue print), I designed my own blaudruck. I also used my fingerprint as in element in some of the patterns as it evokes a crime scene and puts me into the picture.
26 Chaplin Road Blaudruck / Shweshwe 2017
26 Chaplin Road Blaudruck / Shweshwe 2017 Blaudruck cotton fabric, hand-made at Einbecker Blaudruck, Einbeck, Germany 70 x 71 cm
Thanks CAT Cologne
China Plate 2018
China Plate 2018 Porcelain plate 33 cm in diameter
In South African / Zimbabwean slang: ‘China’ can mean ‘friend’ – as in the greeting ‘Howzit my China? The likely origin of this is the Cockney rhyming slang ‘China plate’ meaning ‘mate’ from early British immigrants.
As a result of the deteriorating economic environment and a worsening human rights record, Zimbabwe’s traditional aid donors and partners from the EU and west withdrew their commercial and political support. In the midst of western isolation and sanctions Mugabe decided to look east.
In 2003 Mugabe announced his ‘Look East’ policy, which aimed to expand trade relations with Asia, especially China. In announcing the decision, Mugabe said: ‘ We have turned east where the sun rises, and given our backs to the west, where the sun sets.’ Generally speaking Zimbabwe exports raw materials to China and in return imports cheap finished goods.
Zimbabwe will never be a colony again 2
Zimbabwe Will Never be a Colony Again 2 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 (black) 2016 Hand-woven archival ink-jet prints
80 x 120 cm
Yes Boss 2017
Yes Boss 2017 Chinese scroll saying ‘yes boss’ in Mandarin, from Shanghai. 180 x 43 cm
Yes Boss China
