Kudzi started as a digital collage of the artist’s cousin. Printed, painted on and then faithfully recreated in 17 silkscreen layers.  Glossy swathes of colour obscure a halftone-modulated, monochromatic underprint. These innovative techniques – born of close collaboration with artisan printmakers in London – echo the rich, multimedia surfaces of Hwami’s original paintings.

“Here stands a shy, joyous Zimbabwean young man free from realities facing LGBTQ people in Southern Africa.”

More about this collaboration

Kudzanai-Violet Hwami (she/her) was born in 1993 in Gutu, Zimbabwe, and now lives and works in London, UK.

Hwami paints colourful portraits full of energy and life. She draws from her experiences living between multiple places – Zimbabwe, South Africa and the UK. Family photographs and found images tend to be her starting point. Hwami then paints these into abstract backdrops and domestic scenes. Crucially, she separates the figures from their original context – a symbol of displacement. Finally, splashes of saturated colour are added over the top. The finished paintings are almost patchwork. Individuals, objects and pools of pigment layer on top of each other. Just like the disparate memories and experiences they represent.

At 26 years old, Hwami became the youngest artist to ever show at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Her work reveals a deeply personal vision of Southern African life. Drawing on her experiences of geographical dislocation and displacement, her paintings combine visual fragments from a myriad of sources such as online images and personal photographs, which collapse past and present.   @mwana.wevhu