The Sunday Mail
Desire Ncube —
THE National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) will this month host an exhibition of artefacts with a religious and cultural theme as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations.
Artefacts which depict religious messages will be exhibited on July 21 and obtained mainly from the gallery’s permanent collections.
The Gallery was officially opened on July 16, 1957 in the then Salisbury.
NGZ chief curator, Mr Raphael Chikukwa said the exhibition is aimed at upholding African Traditional Religion (ATR) which he described as the pillar of African art.
Contemporary and modern artistes whose artefacts are going to be exhibited on July 21 include those of Gabriel Hatugari, Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Sam Sango, Lazarus Khumalo, Joseph Ndlovu, Portia Zvavahera, George Nene, Voti Thebe and Sylvester Mubayi.
Mr Chikukwa said Zimbabwe became a Christian dominated society when colonial settlers introduced their beliefs to a population whose faith was deeply rooted in ATR, which can be seen in the number of shrines that are dotted around the country.
“Our culture was founded on strong ancestral roots. We have several sacred shrines that include Chivaroyi, Rambakurimwa and Ngoma Kurira shrines in Domboshava, Njelele in Matebeleland and Domboramwari in Epworth.
“There are more which include Great Zimbabwe in Masvingo, Nharira Hills in Norton, Muti Usina Zita in Buhera, Silozwe in Matebeleland and Chinhoyi Caves, just to mention a few.
“Several schools of thoughts blame the colonialists for wiping out African beliefs by systematically destroying our traditional religious system because they saw them as primitive and evil,” said Mr Chikukwa.
“It is against this backdrop that artistes will confront the conflicting realities of religion and investigate both traditional and modern religious groups.
“The work can be discomforting to some, but it will show different ways of seeing things and that the need to celebrate our differences is important,” he added.
Mr Chikukwa said religion will never be a safe territory because it continues to define and redefine people in ways that cause exclusions and negations.
“Domination of foreign knowledge and ideas has distorted our communities, and we are using art to question these distortions,” he said.
Artistes who will be exhibiting this month will represent the multi-faceted religious and cultural landscape of present Zimbabwe.
“Globally the current political landscape is changing the face of religion; globalisation has come with a complex cargo of new cultures and religion that is difficult to handle internationally.
“Zimbabwe, being part of the global village, is also struggling with religious issues from the past and naturally artistes have to deal with issues of ‘cultural interaction, acculturation and hybridist,” he said.
In the past, art which remains a powerful tool of sending messages and depicting society, was used by early missionaries to evangelise.
Missionaries such as Canon Ned Paterson and Father Hans Groeber managed to evangelise in Bulawayo where they founded Cyrene Mission and Serima Mission in Masvingo on the basis of developing African art.
