Story by Patience Nyagato

RENOWNED Zimbabwean visual artist, Moffat Takadiwa is set to open a solo visual arts exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe this Thursday.

After several successful tours and exhibitions around the world, Takadiwa will launch his exhibition dubbed The Vestiges of Colonialism, which is aimed at redefining tr narratives and meanings of visual art at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

Takadiwa said, ‘‘After like 10 years of exhibiting in international spaces, the first thing which came into my mind when I was thinking about this show was sculpture was a big thing in the 50s, so I had to change narratives around what is sculpture. One of the things I have been doing or I’m doing is I have introduced soft sculpture. Soft sculpture is more about arranging objects and I have introduced things like vegetables. So, there are so many elements.’’

With more than 13 years in the industry, Takadiwa is a proud visual artist who has represented the country on the international scene.

He added, ‘‘I have done many international shows including in Los Angeles, shows in New York and many shows in China, Germany and have my works collected with cities, galleries and high-profile celebrities and so on.’’

Among some of the highlights of his career, Takadiwa in 2020 auctioned one of his artworks to international rap guru, Jay Z, among other high-profile celebrities.

At the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Takadiwa is expected to create dialogue on effects of colonialism in art and creativity.