BIOGRAPHY
Mostaff Muchawaya was born in 1981 in Nyazura, Manicaland, Zimbabwe, and currently lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. He attended the National Gallery of Zimbabwe School of Visual Arts and Design from 2002 to 2003.
Muchawaya references a deep connection to his experiences, which are inseparable from ‘his people’ and his surroundings. The artist grew up in the province of Manicaland located in the mountainous East area of Zimbabwe. He continuously refers back to his rural upbringing - his family part of the work force on a white-owned farm. Muchawaya’s interest in the arts started at a young age, from making his own clay toys to making sketches of the farmers’ dogs. He progressed through school while continuing to live on the farm, where he later married his childhood sweetheart.
@ courtesy of SMAC Gallery & the artist
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- Upcoming: Solo Show at Duende Art Projects at Zwartzusters Monastery, Antwerp, Belgium (2022)
- Where I come from / Kwandinobva at SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa (2020)
- My Faces / Zviso Zvangu at SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa (2018)
- Memory / Ndangariro at SMAC Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa (2017)
- My Entire People and Places at Alliance Française, in collaboration with Village Unhu in Harare, Zimbabwe (2013)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- Forever etched on my mind - Duo show at Tiwani Contemporary Gallery, London, UK (2022)
- Shanduko - curated by Richard Mudariki at Osart Gallery, Milan, Italy (2022)
- UNSETTLED - group exhibition curated by Duende Art Projects at Zwartzusters Monastery, Antwerp, Belgium (2022)
- In Your Shadow - Masking Realities at SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2021)
- A Show of Solidarity at SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2020)
- Holding still: Psychology and Portraiture at SMAC Gallery, Johannesburg (2019)
- Five Bhobh – Painting at the End of an Era at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa. Curated by Tandazani Dhlakama (2018)
- Zimbabwe Meets Italy at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare (2018)
- Landmark at Gallery Delta in Harare, Zimbabwe (2016)
- Mharidzo at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare (2015)
- Artists in the Stream V at Gallery Delta in Harare, Zimbabwe (2014)
- 100 Hundred at Old Mutual Theatre in Harare, Zimbabwe (2013)
- Several group exhibitions at Village Unhu, an artist run space founded by Misheck Masamvu, Georgina Maxim and Gareth Nyandoro, in Harare, Zimbabwe
ART FAIRS
- artHARARE Contemporary Art Fair 2021, Harare, Zimbabwe
- ARCOlisboa 2020 Online (SMAC Gallery)
- FNB Art Joburg 2019 (SMAC Gallery)
MUSEUMS & BIENNIALS
- Nirin, the 22nd Biennale of Sidney (2020, curated by Brook Andrew)
- Zeitz MOCAA Museum (Cape Town, South Africa)
- National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare
Mostaff Muchawaya is exhibited by SMAC Gallery, DUENDE Art Projects and TIWANY Contemporary; featured artist at Mbare Art Space.
Instagram: @babamostaff
"Through the medium of paint, Muchawaya creates multi-layered portraits of people drawn from memories of his upbringing in the mountainous Eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe. Once dry, each generous application of paint is then scraped in parts or removed from the canvas. Household cleaning agents and paint chips from derelict walls are also used to give the impression of erosion. This cycle continues until each portrait begins to reflect the shifting and uncontrollable nature of memory itself, where the processes of remembering and forgetting converge to form abstract impressions of those closest to him."
@ courtesy of Zeitz MOCAA
