In Kirawa, her first solo exhibition at an Austrian institution, Kresiah Mukwazhi presents a new body of work consisting of textile paintings and video works. Her mixed-media collages, sculptures, videos, and performances are informed by her personal experiences and observations of gender-based violence, exploitation and abuse in her native Zimbabwe.
In vibrant textile works, female figures perform seemingly vulgar and obscene gestures, hinting at the artist’s inquiries into the arduous working and living conditions of female sex workers in Zimbabwe’s patriarchal society. Against this backdrop of precarization and marginalization, Mukwazhi uses her powerful work as a form of visual activism, scrupulously carving out forms of resistance and self-empowerment. Mutual support and encouragement, together with humour as a weapon and means of resistance, are recurring themes in her work.
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The exhibition by Kresiah Mukwazhi is a collaboration between the Secession and Nottingham Contemporary, where it will be presented from 27 May to 3 September 2023.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Kirawa, installation view, Secession 2023, photo: Iris Ranzinger.
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Rakazvirova rikazhamba (it (the cock) hit itself and it cried), 2023, video still
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Rakazvirova rikazhamba (it (the cock) hit itself and it cried), 2023, video still
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Simuka tienzane (stand up to my height), 2023, video still
Kresiah Mukwazhi, Simuka tienzane (stand up to my height), 2023, video still
