SMAC Gallery, Cape Town

Acquired from the above by 2017

Wallen Mapondera, Tandazani Dhlakama, Ludovic Delalande, Wallen Mapondera Selected Works, SMAC Gallery, 2022, p.124

London, 1:54 Contemporary African Ar꧂t Fair, 4 - 7 October 2018

Internationally recognised Zimbabwean artist, Wallen Mapondera’s richly plaid textile sculptures are created using found materials, evoking narratives of the social domination and political struggle in Harare. The multi-disciplinary artist depicts these narratives through the intricateness of weaving sewing thread through cardboard, seen in Kubvunura III, a colloquial Shona term for ‘whistleblowing’ or the practice of spreading socio-political commentary. Mapondera’s perspective of this persistent whistleblowing is depicted within the continued repetition of every cardboard piece meticulously sewn together in the installation. The repetition and quantity of the triangular cardboard pieces create a scale-like movement in the unravelling of Kubvunura III. This overcrowding and unravelling of materials are symbﷺolic of the marginalisation and rapid displacement of Zimbabwean communities in high-density areas. The grand scale of the piece allows the viewer to imm🎃ersive themselves inside the complexity of the weaving of materials made during its creation.

Mapondera’s assemblages have been previously included in SMAC Gallery's presentation at 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London in 2017 and he has also held numerous solo exhibitions at SMAC gallery in South Africa. He also participated in multiple group exhibitions in Zimbabwe. Mapondera co-represented Zimbabwe at the 59^th Venice Biennale this year. He exhibited his work alongside fellow ar𓃲tists in the ‘I did not leave a sign?’ exhibit within the Zimbabwean pavilion, in line with the theme of transforming accessible materials into a sustainable art practice. Mapondera’s continued commitment to sustainable art practices is communicated in his work alongsꦿide his protesting stance on politics in Zimbabwe.