Terrence Musekiwa, Varatidzi Vezvakavandika (Mystical Revealers), 2021, Springstone, tire rubber, silk, felt, synthetic bristles, cotton and copper rope.

Each approx.: 350-400cm x 60-90cm x 30-50cm

Terrence Musekiwa is representing Zimbabwe in the 59th Venice Biennale

Terrence Musekiwa (b. 1990, Zimbabwe) comes from a long line of sculptors. He started shaping stone at the age of five alongside his father and later moved away from traditional aesthetics to develop a unique language that bridges the traditional toiling of stone with a narrative approach to found materials, everyday objects, and historical artefacts.

Musekiwa's work is a continuation of oral histories adapted and evolved over the past several centuries of Shona culture. Syncretism and forms of codification play central roles while he merges contemporary methods, philosophies, and materials.

Terrence Musekiwa, Coming From Where We Are Going, 2019, installation view, Catinca Tabacaru NY.

Terrence Musekiwa, Imwe pfungwa uye simba (one mind and influence), 2019

“Over the past year, I have become more interested in the conscription of Zimbabweans into the British forces during WWII and how the phycological effects of this effort persisted through to Chimurenga (The Rhodesian Bush War that led to Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980).”

Terrence Musekiwa will be part of the 14th Dakar Biennale, opening in May 2022.

Terrence Musekiwa, Kubuda mudope (Out of the mud), 2021, Springstone, green opal, red jasper, hard plastic, copper, brass, aluminium number plates

ranging in size from 45 × 12 × 9 cm to 42 × 35.5 × 9.5 cm

Musekiwa takes a site-responsive approach to the work he has created throughout his travels. Using locally salvaged objects and stone, he pieces together the social and spatial fabric of a place creating through-lines to shared histories and beliefs.

Terrence Musekiwa, kumusha ndekupi (Where is Home?), 2019, Springstone, butter jade stone, metal chain, found tarpaulins, and Kano indigo dyed cotton, 435 x 365 x 91 cm.

Complimenting his first and second solo exhibitions at Catinca Tabacaru, New York (2017/2019), Musekiwa made significant contributions to shows on the African Continent both at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (2018) and hFACTOR in Lagos, Nigeria (2019). During this time, his work was included in exhibitions at public and private institutions in the UK, The Netherlands, France, Finland, Belgium, Israel, the USA, and Mexico. In 2022, Musekiwa is shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize making part of the Future Now Anthology exhibition and publication in the United Kingdom.

Terrence Musekiwa, the Telephones, 2018-2021

left to right: Muera nhungu, 2021, butter jade stone, brass, 1990s plastic phone receiver, iron bicycle gear, hard colored plastic jewellery, 23 × 11 × 11 cm; Nyachide (Beloved one), 2019, green serpentine stone, aluminium chain, light socket and 1930s plastic phone receiver, 25 × 8 × 8 cm; Muimbi (Singer), 2020, green serpentine stone, 1930s plastic phone receiver, glass, metal, and glue, 18 x 12 x 12 cm; Mambo (African Royal), 2019, fruit serpentine stone, 1930s plastic phone receiver, brass jewellery, painted metal, 18 x 12 x 12 cm