Pangu Ndasakura Ndazunza

(We've done what we can)

An exhibition by

Tafadzwa Masudi

“Following the success Tafadzwa Masudi recently had at the AKAA Art Fair in Paris, WORLDART is delighted to present a new body of work titled “We’ve done what we can”. 

Masudi’s narrative explores the reality that migrants face when leaving their country of birth. From a place where they have an identity, a presence and network to a place where these things don’t exist for them and they have to start at the bottom in order to share in the resources. He presents the figures in his paintings as people with ambition, stylishly dressed and optimistic. Balloons suggest celebration but can also be seen as a reference to the precariousness of their situation - it can pop any moment. Sometimes these balloons are positioned as masks. The thick, patterned, flower-like patterns are in fact doilies, a reference to the doilies that his mom and aunt used to make before they’d take a bus from his native Harare in Zimbabwe to go to Mozambique and Botswana where they’d sell it – a nod to the strength of the women in his life.

Masudi’s work suggests that we look deeper than the surface and that there is beauty to find.

Tafadzwa Masudi (b. 1988) started painting at an early age in Harare while assisting a family friend who introduced him to the visual arts.

In 2010 he moved to South Africa and started working in a clothing factory until 2020 when he was laid off. He took the opportunity to start painting full-time and soon his work featured in group exhibitions at galleries in Cape Town.

“Circumstances forced me to leave my country of birth and become a migrant. I relate to people who had to travel elsewhere to create a better life and this is what I currently paint. Images that show their sense of self, their dreams and their aspirations.”

His brightly coloured paintings depict scenes filled with balloons, people and patterns. Observed through the lens of a migrant person existing in a foreign land, the works reflect on optimism and the pursuit of a better future.

“The balloons are not just masks of optimism or celebration, they also represent the composed pressure under which some of us are. A balloon can pop any moment, yet it represents happiness and celebration. That balloon is me staying calm under difficult circumstances while chasing the dream of a bright future”.

“When I paint women, I think about the role they played in my life and how I was inspired by the ones who raised me. Their dedication and effort and their struggle to be independent in a patriarchal environment made a huge impression on me. I felt compelled to create images of courageous and confident women. Women who stand in power and who can be themselves with pride and dignity. As man it is my duty to respect the ones that nurture and bring forth life. My mom and aunts also used to travel to neighbouring countries Botswana and Mozambique to sell the crochet doilies they made. I use the patterns of these doilies in my paintings as a further reference to their struggle. Its flower-like designs and the flowers I often add symbolise the opportunities at hand and taking advantage of it.”

Masudi’s paintings remind us that people are more than what popular narratives about their places of origin suggest. Through his lens, people are presented as individuals with pride, dreams and optimism.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

•                     2022 – Summer group exhibition. Monti8, Latina, Italy

•                     2020 – Many makes ONE. Studio VOOP, Cape Town

•                     2020 – Home is where the art is. Zeitz MOCAA – Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

•                     2022 – Maricho | Part time, WORLDART Gallery, Cape Town

•                     2022 - Pakutsvaga. Africa First X Gordon Gallery, Tel-Aviv

•                     2021 – Waiting for a better tomorrow. WORLDART, Cape Town

ART FAIRS

•                     2023 – AKAA, Paris

•                     2023 – Investec Cape Town Art Fair

•                     2022 – AKAA, Paris

•                     2022 – Volta New York

•                     2022 – London Art Fair

•                     2022 – Investec Cape Town Art Fair

•                     2021 – Turbine Art Fair, Johannesburg

•                     2021 – FNB Art Joburg, Johannesburg (online)

•                     2021 – Art X Lagos (online)

More information:    Charl Bezuidenhout   |   charl@worldart.co.za   |   +27 21 423 3075