For Ronald the quest for art is a never-ending chase, but what enlightenment it can bring; open doors of perception onto unknown realities. A redeeming force, it can prevent man from stopping in his tracks, from sliding backwards and dragging his own world with him.
- Raphael Chikukwa is the Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe
Ronald Muchatuta was born in Zimbabwe, but like many of his countrymen, he had to take the decision to leave his home and currently lives in Cape Town, South Africa. He uses drawing, paint, collage, and mosaic to examine the effect of leaving one’s homeland physically, spiritually, and psychologically. His work is fraught and harrowing – like a people’s collective nervous breakdown translated onto a canvas. These foreboding themes come from Ronald’s own context: the contemporary issues facing the people of Southern Africa – migration, identity politics, post-colonialism, and discrimination.
-
-
Zimbabwe Pavilion | 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia
'I did not leave a sign?' -
-
Stellenbosch Triennale 2020
When was Zimbabwe ever Great (Great Zimbabwe)? -
BARNABAS TICHA MUVHUTI IN CONVERSATION WITH RONALD MUCHATUTA
-
Click here to read full interview
My booth at the Stellenbosch Triennale for 2020 consisted of three bodies of work that coexisted to cross-pollinate ideas and energies. The first was Dandaro, which in Shona language means to gather in a circle whether for dialogue or entertainment purposes. Guests engaged and enjoyed nhodo, which is an indigenous game common in Africa. With this work, the idea was to gather people around and make them play while they engaged with the political undertones referencing the exploitation of Africa’s natural and physical resources.
The second component was Chimurenga, which is a Shona word for “Uprising.” In making this installation, my thoughts were to freeze the process of collage and hang the drawings in mid-air on a washing/clothing line. The idea was to give the impression of “works in progress,” while highlighting the plight and cry of marginalized poor people in Zimbabwe and Africa.
-
-
Confronting the theme of the 1st edition of the Stellenbosch Triennale 2020 entitled, “Tomorrow there will be more of us”, Muchatuta demonstrates a greater self-confidence in his work and addresses key global issues that might not need an answer today but will act as a reminder to human life and experience. To quote the exhibition title, “Tomorrow there will be more of us”, displaced and living in the wilderness confronted with xenophobia and statelessness. All are for the viewer’s mind to ponder and reflect on Muchatuta’s contribution to the Triennale.
- Raphael Chikukwa is the Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.
-
-
Sculptx
-
Ronald MuchatutaUkhubhabha / kumbururuka / To fly (60 pc) , 2018Mixed media on board500 x 300 cmSold
-
-
I'm inspired by artistic forces that survive in all of us no matter how different we are and what backgrounds we are from, the world is made of boxes, it's only for us to set ourselves free, if we want to.
- Ronald Muchatuta
-
-
A never ending chase
-
The modest Muchatuta has a deep respect for his Shona roots. That is seen in the ink and charcoal on paper drawings in which he addresses African mythology, a belief system the western world would be sceptical of and most Christian and Islamic Africans would loathe. After spending over a decade in the diaspora in the much more cosmopolitan Cape Town, the artist has not detached himself from his background and its traditional folklore and the mythical which he addresses through the work, giving them an African visual aesthetic and voice, something an African alone can do.
The respect for his background is embodied in the exhibition title Kusina Amai Hakuendwe, a deep Shona figurative expression loosely translating to ‘do not stray from your mother’s umbilical cord’, almost revealing the hardships encountered on the migration journey and when one finds a new home away from home. The expression is also an everyday lamentation, almost a feeling of regret, among the diasporic community that has left Mother Africa for various world destinations, for its never easy to settle in a place where one must abandon their mother tongue. It is also a caution to those who aspire to follow the trek, for the struggle is real. Some of Muchatuta’s works also carry rich and carefully considered Shona titles.By Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti
-
Ronald MuchatutaSurvival, 2016Oil and Charcoal on Canson Paper (Framed)153 H x 114 W cmR 75,000.00
-
Ronald MuchatutaMade in China, 2017Charcoal, pencil and oil on canson paper141 x 96 cmR 85,000.00
-
-
Passion
-
Ronald MuchatutaTraded for FreedomCharcoal and oil paint on canson paper140 x 90 cmR 75,000.00
-
Detail images of Feso I and II, 2018, Mosaic and mixed media, 50 x 50 cm
-
-
-
-
Highlights
-
News
-
Stellenbosch Triennale, a Bold Experiment | The New York Times
Ronald Muchatuta 25 Mar 2020STELLENBOSCH, South Africa — For tourists, this prim colonial town is the gateway to a spectacular mountain region dotted with wine estates. To most South Africans, however, it is the... -
In conversation with Ronald Muchatuta
by Barnabas Muvhuti Ticha 6 Oct 2020Black lives have always mattered through colonialism, the Atlantic Slave Trade, the Jim Crow era, apartheid, and currently, with the ongoing abuse of Black bodies by the police. The atrocity... -
Artist’s work is fired by deep spirituality
By Atiyyah Khan 1 Mar 2016Spirituality is what fuels the work of Zimbabwean-born artist Ronald Muchatuta. The soft-spoken artist has been working in Cape Town since moving here in 2007, but it has not been... -
Tomorrow There Will Be More of Us: Art as a Contact Zone
by Sven Christian 5 Feb 2020The title of the inaugural Stellenbosch Triennale, Tomorrow There Will Be More Of Us (2020), reads like a proclamation—a statement of intent, assurance, solidarity. Premised on the understanding of love... -
Top Zimbabwean artists up for Venice Biennale
By Jonathan Mbiriyamveka 26 Mar 2021Zimbabwean contemporary artists Ronald Muchatuta, Kresiah Mukwazhi, Terrence Musekiwa and Wallen Mapondera are up for Venice Biennale showcase beginning in May to November next year in Italy. The four artists... -
Zim quartet for Italian exhibition
Ronald Muchatuta 26 Mar 2021BY WINSTONE ANTONIO TOP four Zimbabwean artists’ crafts will be showcased at the 59th edition of the La Biennale di Venezia exhibition, set for Venice in Italy from May to... -
Blazer.
Ronald Muchatuta 24 Apr 2021In the last twenty years, Muchatuta has emerged as a fiery, passionate and undaunted visual artist who is determined to use his platform as a means of change and discourse...
-
-
We are not on our own. Instead, we travel with our subconscious. It's a place where we deposit the products of our conscious self. The products of the conscious are released through our interactions with loved ones, society, social media and, of course, reflecting into the past - nostalgia or perhaps something more. Introspect is where one finds purpose, assurance and the definition of one's own existence. - Ronald Muchatuta
