GRESHAM TAPIWA NYAUDE

BORN IN 1988 IN MBARE, ZIMBABWE, Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude graduated from the National gallery of Zimbabwe Visual Arts Studios, from where he received his National Certificate in Fine Art in 2008.

Nyaude works against the sweeping identity that has been defined by the voice of the state. His images oscillate between figuration, abstraction and hallucination, drawing from the restless energy of his home town.

'My paintings demand that the audience become familiar with Shona.  Shona oral tradition is densely populated with visual metaphor, making the environment come alive in imagination. This tradition of making the environment instructive and interpretative has been translated into contemporary reality of life in the high-density neighborhoods in the cities, especially in Harare. It is here that language evolves, transforms and is shaped by emerging identities of my contemporaries as they define their own Africa and their relationship with the world. This is my raw material and inspiration.

One of my favorite foundational proverbs has been, "Zino Irema rino sekerera warisingade". It is a proverb that has been modernized and adopted by contemporary slang to reflect our new reality. Literally it means, "A tooth is a fool, it smiles even at its enemy". What it speaks to is a reality where self-interest overtakes trust and bonds of friendship. This is a learnt culture of competition, poverty and greed that is an "acquired skill", a residue of colonial history which disrupted communal bonds in Zimbabwe, as well as contemporary political and social conditions.'