Layers of my soul | Fabric collage on mannequin 385cm (h) 2017 | Price available on request
LIZETTE CHIRRIME
was born in 1973 in Maputo, Mozambique, where she grew up and attended commercial school until the age of seventeen.
Creating artworks using paint and sewing has always been an important pastime for her and she never received a formal arts education. In 2004 she was invited to participate in her first solo exhibition in Mozambique and in 2005 she accepted a three-month residency at Greatmore Studios in Cape Town, South Africa. She lived and worked in Cape Town till 2021 before she returned to Mozambique where she now lives and works in Inhambane.
Her work mainly consists of large-scale textile-driven abstract expressions on canvas rendered in a collage of printed fabrics from Tshwe-tshwe to other so-called African prints associated with dress on the continent.
“These abstract forms evoke the human body and my identity-responsive practice where I refashion my self-image and transcend a painful upbringing that left me shattered and broken. I literally ‘re-stitched’ myself together. These liberated ‘souls’ are depicted ‘dancing’ on the canvas, bringing to mind, well-dressed African women celebrating” says Chirrime.
The interplay between textiles, abstraction and art as a therapeutic and spiritual tool makes Chirrime’s art unique and distinctively African.
“I grew up under very harsh conditions, angry and afraid of life and with no self-esteem. I was a wounded person. I started gardening and drawing and this became my therapy. As a young adult I found myself on an island off the coast of Imhambane in Mozambique where I lived on my own for months. Here I started facing nature and understanding that I am part of nature and that I could conquer my fears feeding off the strength of this very nature that I am part of. I kept myself busy during the days creating artworks out of found materials. This is where the healing process started. I eventually returned to Maputo and started making and selling unique clothing items. These became sought-after and I was invited to participate in group exhibitions and related events. My work is guided and influenced by water, the female and a combination of happiness and sadness,” she says.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 - Rituals for Soul Search, at Morton Fine Art Gallery, Washington DC, USA.
2021 - O Livro de Ndimande, Galleria Kulunguana. Maputo, Mozambique.
2021 - Oferenda, Centro cultural, Moçambique Brazil, Maputo, Mozambique.
2020 Mothers Gift, GUS Stellenbosch University.
2018 The Forms of the Invisible Demand, WORLDART, Cape Town
2016 A Sinfonia da Alma Liberta II (Sounds of a Free Soul) at WORLDART, Cape Town.
2012 A Sinfonia da Alma Liberta at the Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano (CCFM), Maputo
2004 Metamorfosa de saco at the Associação Moçambicano de Fotografie (MMF), Maputo
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020 Knoop/Knot exhibition with Louis Jansen van Vuuren
2020 Woordfees festival, Stellenbosh Cape Town
2020 Fyne art festival, Hermanus, Western Cape
2020 Perve Gallery 20th anniversary, Portugal
2019 Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium Museum, Norway
2019 Constitution Hill Cape Town
2018 Reinventing Materiality, The Melrose Gallery, Johannesburg
2018 Gates of Horn and Ivory, Kristin Hjelleglerde Gallery, Berlin
2017 35, Lizamore and Associates, Johannesburg
2017 City lights…and shadows, Stephen Welz, Johannesburg
2017 Dress code, Gallery MoMo, Cape Town
2013 Roots at Instituto Cam?es, Maputo
2012 Sombres Movimentos e Senhos at Centro Cultural Americano, Maputo
2007 Africa South at the Association of Visual Arts (AVA), Cape Town
2006 Face(in) at the Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town
2005 Colour me at Greatmore studios, Cape Town
2004 Women who make art at the Museu Nacional de Arte (MUSART), Maputo
PERFORMANCES
2018 Gates of Horn and Ivory, Kristin Hjelleglerde Gallery, Berlin
2017 South South, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town
2017 (Don’t) look back, Gallery MoMo, Cape Town
2017 Wattle Daub, Gallery MoMo, Cape Town
2017 Essence Festival, Durban
ART FAIRS
2017 Cape Town Art Fair
2017 Art Africa Fair, Cape Town
2016 1:54 Contemporary Art Fair, London
SPECIAL HONOURS
2017 Bright Young Things Award (finalist)
THE FORMS OF THE INVISIBLE DEMAND - AN INTERVIEW WITH LIZETTE CHIRRIME
PUBLISHED ARTICLES
LIZETTE CHIRRIME: ANCESTRAL INVOCATIONS
Lizette Chirrime Art Africa December 2018