Re: Zacharaha Magasa and Zanele Mutema is a story in two parts for two important artists re-emerging on the Harare art scene and re-interpreting their lives and experiences in the context of their artistic practice.

Part 1 is Project Dialogue by Zacharaha Magasa, who has returned to make new work in Harare after moving to Durban 8 years ago. Always a multi-media sculptor, committed to exploring narrative properties of his materials, in this new body of work he is looking at the fractures, gaps and metamorphoses between the city and country he left behind and one he finds on his return. He is doing so as conversation between his younger self and the man he is today – the journey of experience and experience of a journey.

Installation view Re: Zacharaha Magasa and Zanele Mutema at First Floor Gallery Harare, 2020.

Zacharaha Magasa, Confluencies of Realities, Part 4, 2020. Courtesy First Floor Gallery Harare.

Zacharaha Magasa, Confluencies of Realities, Part 1, 2020. Courtesy First Floor Gallery Harare.

Installation view Re: Zacharaha Magasa and Zanele Mutema at First Floor Gallery Harare, 2020.

Zacharaha Magasa, Can we speak, Part 1, 2020. Courtesy First Floor Gallery Harare.

Zacharaha Magasa, Missing Link, Part 2, 2020. Courtesy First Floor Gallery Harare.

Part 2 is Systemic Necropolis by Zanele Mutema, who has returned to practice as an artist after 8 years of immersing herself in building a family. Zanele’s art practice has always built toward the immersive, the experiential, creating installations which sit somewhere between fascination, disbelief and sensory overload and this is no exception. Working with minimal objects and materials as a base – recycled brooms, red string and clear plastic, she introduces us into an otherworldly environment somewhere between a dream and science fiction. In her own words: “this body of work is a glorified memorial site for my memories. The Mutsvairo has a symbolic meaning of being a time capsule, an object that is embodying a wide array of things. The red string being the bloodline that connects the memories. Stitching serves as a cathartic process in my life. The cocoons are different one from another just as how each memory embodies and occupies a different space, a single point in time. Unlike my previous installations where I would break down an event, for Systemic Necropolis it is a congregating/ coming together of the Event.”

Installation view Re: Zacharaha Magasa and Zanele Mutema at First Floor Gallery Harare, 2020.

Zanele Mutema, Systemic Necropolis, Part 6, 2020. First Floor Gallery Harare.

Zanele Mutema, Systemic Necropolis, Part 4, 2020. First Floor Gallery Harare.

Zanele Mutema, Systemic Necropolis, Part 1, 2020. First Floor Gallery Harare.

Zanele Mutema, Systemic Necropolis, Part 3, 2020. First Floor Gallery Harare.

Zanele Mutema, Systemic Necropolis, Part 2, 2020. First Floor Gallery Harare.