Kresiah Mukwazhi
PROJECT
This 8-metre-long textile work communicates Kresiah Mukwazhi’s engagement with the community of sex workers in the suburbs of the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. Constructed from thousands of used bra straps from the community, the collage of worn, torn and cut lingerie fragments conjures associations with intimacy, power and control. Named for the ancient Greek myth of the Seven Sisters, who were transformed into stars to evade rape by the hunter Orion, Nyenyedzi Nomwe elevates fragments of women’s lives to form an abstract portrait of a community. Through the used lingerie, Mukwazhi also examines the issue of Zimbabwe’s second-hand clothing industry, whereby Western companies export vast quantities of second-hand clothes to Africa only for them to end up in landfill.
ABOUT
Kresiah Mukwazhi’s work uses observation and personal experience to explore how oppressive systems – both visible and invisible – play out on the female body. Her work regarding gender-based violence and the marginalisation of women in Zimbabwean society tends to situate her practice as a form of activism and advocacy for women. Since graduating from the National Gallery School of Visual Art and Design in Harare in 2012, she has held solo museum exhibitions including at Nottingham Contemporary (UK); Secession, Vienna (Austria); and Museum Ludwig, Cologne (Germany). She has also participated in group exhibitions, including representing Zimbabwe at the 59th Venice Biennale and at the FLAG Art Foundation, New York, (US) and the South African National Gallery, Cape Town (South Africa). She has participated in international residency programs and has work in the collection of Nottingham Contemporary (UK).