Admire Kamudzengerere’s work explores identity, politics, and society, often informed by the multifaceted structural and social issues that have marked Zimbabwe’s last decade. Working in various media, he frequently reveals an unequal world in which the powerful ride roughshod over the weak.
Kamudzengerere completed the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten program in Amsterdam (2012). He mounted his first solo exhibition at Catinca Tabacaru New York in 2017, and that same year represented Zimbabwe at the 57th Venice Biennial. His work has was included in four additional international Biennials: Moscow (2013), Bamako (2017), Dakar (2018), and Cairo (2019). In the past two years he has been awarded two art fair prizes, the Purchase Prize by Northern Trust at EXPO Chicago (2017), and On Demand Prize by Snaporazverein at MiArt Milan (2018).
In addition to private collections around the world, Kamudzengerere’s work has been acquired into the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the Block Museum at Northwestern University, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
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Education
- 2012
- Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam
- 2003
- National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Visual Arts Studios, Harare
Atelier Gallery Delta, Helen Lieros Lessons, Harare, Zimbabwe
Museum Exhibitions
- 2024
- Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, Curators: Matt Witkovsky & Antawan Byrd, The Art Institute of Chicago, USA (forthcoming)
National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Catalogue: Percy Zvomouya (forthcoming)
- 2023
- Long-Distance Friendships, 14th Kaunas Biennial, curated by Inga Lace and Alicia Knock, Kaunas, LT
- 2021
- Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts, Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Illinois (catalogue)
- 2020
- Stasi Frenetica, Palazzo Madama, Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Torino; Curator: Ilaria Bonacossa
- 2019
- Permanent Collections Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago; curators: Antawan Byrd & Matt Witkovsky
hybrID, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Curator: Anna Nowak
CTG: Finland, Serlachius Museum, Mantta, Finland; Curators: Catinca Tabacaru & Raphael Guilbert
- 2018
- FIVE BHOBH – Painting at the End of an Era, Zeitz Mocaa, Cape Town
Meeting Of The Minds, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Organizer: Mondrian Foundation & The Netherlands Embassy
Unknowing Knowns | Knowing Unknowns: (UNFINISHED), National Museum of Art, Bucharest, Romania
NEW FEELINGS: Transformative Play and Discourse on Photography from a Diasporic Perspective, Center for Contemporary Art & Culture
(PNCA), Portland, USA; Curator: Modou Dieng
- 2016
- Zig Zag Zim, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Curator: Catinca Tabacaru
- 2010
- Harare International Festival of Arts, National Gallery of Zimbabwe
The Fifth Column, The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (solo)
Modern Art of Zimbabwe, The Korea Foundation Cultural Centre, Seoul
Solo & Two Artist Exhibitions
- 2022
- The Space Between, The Over Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
- 2021
- Haipere nyaya yacho (with Troy Makaza), Catinca Tabacaru, Bucharest
Ipapo Ipapo, Galleria Anna Marra, Brussels
- 2019
- Inside/out, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York
- 2018
- 1972 (with Rachel Monosov), Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York
- 2017
- I am gonna…you. Till you run., Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York
- 2014
- Antipathy, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2010
- Variations in the game, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Biennials
- 2023
- 14th Kaunas Biennial: Long-distance Friendships, Lithuania; Curators: Alicia Knock & Inga Lāce
- 2019
- 13th Cairo Biennial: Eyes East Bound, Egypt; Curator: Ehad Labban
- 2018
- 13th Biennial of Contemporary African Art: The Rebel, Dakar, Senegal; Curator: Simon Njami
- 2017
- 11th Biennale of African Photography: Afrotopia, Bamako, Mali; Curator: Marie-Ann Yamsi
57th Venice Biennial, Zimbabwe Pavilion: Deconstructing Boundaries: Exploring Ideas of Belonging, Italy; Curator: Raphael Chikukwa
- 2013
- 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Special Projects: Playing Nature, Moscow, Russia; Curator: Katia Krupennikova
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2022
- Group Show, Rele Gallery, LA, USA
- 2020
- CTG Collective: Berry Eaters, Catinca Tabacaru, CTG Harlem, NY
Messe in St. Agnes #2, König Galerie, Berlin
- 2018
- Fear of Change: true scenes and flat screens, Site131, Dallas, TX
- 2017
- Transcultural Protocol, ThalieLab Art Foundation, Brussels, Belgium; Curator: Nathalie Guiot
Mono|Chrome, Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto, Canada
- 2016
- Zig Zag Zim, Catinca Tabacaru, New York
- 2014
- Galerie Sanaa, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 2013
- 3 Man Show, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Select Collection, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Galerie 23, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2012
- Past and Present – A Retrospective Insight, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2011
- Islamic International Festival of Art, Gorgan, Iran
Unleashed: 3 Man Exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare
Color Africa, Munich, Germany
- 2009
- Zimbabwean Contemporary Arts, Dakar, Senegal
- 2008
- Between in Line, Avignon University, Avignon, France
- 2006
- Rembrandt: An African Response, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2005
- Don Quicote, An African perspective, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2004
- Seven Contemporary Young Artist, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2003
- Young Artist exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Residencies
- 2022
- Gaudi’s Casa Vicens Artist-In-Residence
- 2019
- Serlachius Museum, Finland
AGA Lab, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kulturkontakt Austria Artists-in-Residence Programme, Vienna, Austria
- 2017
- Triangle Arts Association, Brooklyn, New York
CTG-R: Zimbabwe, CTG Collective in collaboration with Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions, Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2016
- Guns and Rain, Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2015
- CTG-R: Zimbabwe, CTG Collective in collaboration with
Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions, Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2014
- Thami Mnyele Studios, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Fellowships And Awards
- 2019
- Mack First Book Award (Shortlist)
- 2018
- On Demand by Snaporazverein, miart, Milan
- 2017
- Northern Trust Purchase Prize, EXPO Chicago
- 2012
- Ministeria van Buitenlandse Zaken – ICE
- 2011
- Hivos Foundation, Artist Mediation and Travel Support
- 2010
- The Fifth Column solo exhibition grant, Culture Fund, Zimbabwe
- 2008
- Francophone Exhibition, Second Prize in Drawings, Graphics and Prints, Gallery Delta
First Prize, Post Election Selection in Drawings, Graphics and Prints, Gallery Delta
- 2007
- The Land, Gallery Delta, Paintings Category, Second Prize
- 2006
- Spanish Embassy, First Prize for Best African Perspective, Don Quixote 400th Birthday
Netherlands Embassy, Third Prize for An African Response, Rembrandt 400th Birthday
Selected Collections
Block Museum at Northwestern University
National Gallery of Zimbabwe
Dokolo Collection, Uganda
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, The Netherlands
Fondation Blachère, France
US Embassies
The Scheryn Art Collection
Ackland Museum of Art, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Oil, ink, litho and silkscreening on canvas
140 cm x 100 cm
silkscreen on monotype
174 × 90 cm
Monotype, silkscreen and litho on paper | silkscreen on paper
99 × 140 cm
Silkscreen on monotype
89 × 66 cm (each)
Single channel video, 14:18 min
Registrar, 2018 (detail)
These oil, ink and earth works on paper are made on old Harare phonebook pages collated together in textile-like manner. Kamudzengerere collects earth from different parts of the country and mixes it with an archival oil medium. He then puts a patch of the mixture in front of him, on a table or the floor, and draws into the patch with a stick or the back of a brush. He then picks up the impression with the phonebook paper. Essentially each portrait is a monotype print.
Archival print, 8 × 12 inches
16-piece performance-based photographic work
A work of performance and photography, 1972 offers an archive of images and text documenting the imagined interracial marriage of a Jewish woman and a Zimbabwean man in rural Zimbabwe in 1972. In reality, 1972 was a tumultuous year in Zimbabwe, as a guerrilla-style war of independence escalated and the intermingling of the races was challenged and driven underground by social pressures and government intervention. Together, the photographs and cards, rendered in a style drawn from the past, attest to an intimate personal and domestic narrative, a story “both believable and unbelievable at the same time,” says Monosov. The black and white prints also serve as photographic self-portraits, as in the course of their creation the artists married, lived together, and built a house in Zimbabwe.
Artists’ Note: At that moment sitting and talking under the muhacha tree, it seemed so natural to collaborate. Inspired and invigorated, we started to explore our boundaries, attesting to our own inner egos. What seemed to be our vast differences became our mutual connection binding our understanding of humanity. Gradually we became aware of one another’s individual, maybe even selfish artistic pursuits. Armed with this new knowledge, we unfolded issues relevant and irrelevant to the piece, yet similar within our two cultures. Day and night, time ceased to exist. We were changing, evolving through one another’s concepts and reflections.
Admire Kamudzengerere’s work explores identity, politics, and society, often informed by the multifaceted structural and social issues that have marked Zimbabwe’s last decade. Working in various media, he frequently reveals an unequal world in which the powerful ride roughshod over the weak.
Kamudzengerere completed the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten program in Amsterdam (2012). He mounted his first solo exhibition at Catinca Tabacaru New York in 2017, and that same year represented Zimbabwe at the 57th Venice Biennial. His work has was included in four additional international Biennials: Moscow (2013), Bamako (2017), Dakar (2018), and Cairo (2019). In the past two years he has been awarded two art fair prizes, the Purchase Prize by Northern Trust at EXPO Chicago (2017), and On Demand Prize by Snaporazverein at MiArt Milan (2018).
In addition to private collections around the world, Kamudzengerere’s work has been acquired into the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the Block Museum at Northwestern University, and The Art Institute of Chicago.
Education
- 2012
- Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam
- 2003
- National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Visual Arts Studios, Harare
Atelier Gallery Delta, Helen Lieros Lessons, Harare, Zimbabwe
Museum Exhibitions
- 2024
- Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica, Curators: Matt Witkovsky & Antawan Byrd, The Art Institute of Chicago, USA (forthcoming)
National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Catalogue: Percy Zvomouya (forthcoming)
- 2023
- Long-Distance Friendships, 14th Kaunas Biennial, curated by Inga Lace and Alicia Knock, Kaunas, LT
- 2021
- Who Says, Who Shows, What Counts, Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, Illinois (catalogue)
- 2020
- Stasi Frenetica, Palazzo Madama, Museo Civico d’Arte Antica, Torino; Curator: Ilaria Bonacossa
- 2019
- Permanent Collections Gallery, Art Institute of Chicago; curators: Antawan Byrd & Matt Witkovsky
hybrID, Kunsthaus Hamburg, Curator: Anna Nowak
CTG: Finland, Serlachius Museum, Mantta, Finland; Curators: Catinca Tabacaru & Raphael Guilbert
- 2018
- FIVE BHOBH – Painting at the End of an Era, Zeitz Mocaa, Cape Town
Meeting Of The Minds, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Organizer: Mondrian Foundation & The Netherlands Embassy
Unknowing Knowns | Knowing Unknowns: (UNFINISHED), National Museum of Art, Bucharest, Romania
NEW FEELINGS: Transformative Play and Discourse on Photography from a Diasporic Perspective, Center for Contemporary Art & Culture
(PNCA), Portland, USA; Curator: Modou Dieng
- 2016
- Zig Zag Zim, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Curator: Catinca Tabacaru
- 2010
- Harare International Festival of Arts, National Gallery of Zimbabwe
The Fifth Column, The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (solo)
Modern Art of Zimbabwe, The Korea Foundation Cultural Centre, Seoul
Solo & Two Artist Exhibitions
- 2022
- The Space Between, The Over Gallery, Barcelona, Spain
- 2021
- Haipere nyaya yacho (with Troy Makaza), Catinca Tabacaru, Bucharest
Ipapo Ipapo, Galleria Anna Marra, Brussels
- 2019
- Inside/out, Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York
- 2018
- 1972 (with Rachel Monosov), Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York
- 2017
- I am gonna…you. Till you run., Catinca Tabacaru Gallery, New York
- 2014
- Antipathy, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2010
- Variations in the game, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Biennials
- 2023
- 14th Kaunas Biennial: Long-distance Friendships, Lithuania; Curators: Alicia Knock & Inga Lāce
- 2019
- 13th Cairo Biennial: Eyes East Bound, Egypt; Curator: Ehad Labban
- 2018
- 13th Biennial of Contemporary African Art: The Rebel, Dakar, Senegal; Curator: Simon Njami
- 2017
- 11th Biennale of African Photography: Afrotopia, Bamako, Mali; Curator: Marie-Ann Yamsi
57th Venice Biennial, Zimbabwe Pavilion: Deconstructing Boundaries: Exploring Ideas of Belonging, Italy; Curator: Raphael Chikukwa
- 2013
- 5th Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Special Projects: Playing Nature, Moscow, Russia; Curator: Katia Krupennikova
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2022
- Group Show, Rele Gallery, LA, USA
- 2020
- CTG Collective: Berry Eaters, Catinca Tabacaru, CTG Harlem, NY
Messe in St. Agnes #2, König Galerie, Berlin
- 2018
- Fear of Change: true scenes and flat screens, Site131, Dallas, TX
- 2017
- Transcultural Protocol, ThalieLab Art Foundation, Brussels, Belgium; Curator: Nathalie Guiot
Mono|Chrome, Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Toronto, Canada
- 2016
- Zig Zag Zim, Catinca Tabacaru, New York
- 2014
- Galerie Sanaa, Utrecht, The Netherlands
- 2013
- 3 Man Show, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Select Collection, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Galerie 23, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- 2012
- Past and Present – A Retrospective Insight, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2011
- Islamic International Festival of Art, Gorgan, Iran
Unleashed: 3 Man Exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare
Color Africa, Munich, Germany
- 2009
- Zimbabwean Contemporary Arts, Dakar, Senegal
- 2008
- Between in Line, Avignon University, Avignon, France
- 2006
- Rembrandt: An African Response, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2005
- Don Quicote, An African perspective, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2004
- Seven Contemporary Young Artist, Gallery Delta, Harare
- 2003
- Young Artist exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
Residencies
- 2022
- Gaudi’s Casa Vicens Artist-In-Residence
- 2019
- Serlachius Museum, Finland
AGA Lab, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Kulturkontakt Austria Artists-in-Residence Programme, Vienna, Austria
- 2017
- Triangle Arts Association, Brooklyn, New York
CTG-R: Zimbabwe, CTG Collective in collaboration with Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions, Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2016
- Guns and Rain, Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2015
- CTG-R: Zimbabwe, CTG Collective in collaboration with
Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions, Harare, Zimbabwe
- 2014
- Thami Mnyele Studios, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Fellowships And Awards
- 2019
- Mack First Book Award (Shortlist)
- 2018
- On Demand by Snaporazverein, miart, Milan
- 2017
- Northern Trust Purchase Prize, EXPO Chicago
- 2012
- Ministeria van Buitenlandse Zaken – ICE
- 2011
- Hivos Foundation, Artist Mediation and Travel Support
- 2010
- The Fifth Column solo exhibition grant, Culture Fund, Zimbabwe
- 2008
- Francophone Exhibition, Second Prize in Drawings, Graphics and Prints, Gallery Delta
First Prize, Post Election Selection in Drawings, Graphics and Prints, Gallery Delta
- 2007
- The Land, Gallery Delta, Paintings Category, Second Prize
- 2006
- Spanish Embassy, First Prize for Best African Perspective, Don Quixote 400th Birthday
Netherlands Embassy, Third Prize for An African Response, Rembrandt 400th Birthday
Selected Collections
Block Museum at Northwestern University
National Gallery of Zimbabwe
Dokolo Collection, Uganda
Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, The Netherlands
Fondation Blachère, France
US Embassies
The Scheryn Art Collection
Ackland Museum of Art, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill