MISHECK MASAMVU

The Shona term ‘mubato’ translates directly to “handle” evoking notions of grip, control, and the point of interaction with an object or idea. In Masamvu’s hands ‘mubato’ becomes a powerful metaphor for the ways individuals engage with the world: as a tool for self-determination, a boundary for protection, and a means of negotiating life’s precarities. This handle – both literal and symbolic – represents the delicate balance between holding on and letting go, between individual autonomy and collective participation. By rooting the exhibition in this Shona concept, Masamvu ties the works to a linguistic and cultural heritage that foregrounds the complexities of individual and shared responsibilities.

In his new body of work, Masamvu looks at these complexities through gestural abstraction and rich, layered textures on canvas. These paintings occupy a space where clarity meets distortion, presenting fragmented narratives and fluid forms that echo the intricate rhythms of the human psyche. Navigating between hope and despair, stability and disruption, Masamvu’s work challenges viewers to confront the dynamic roles, actions, and responsibilities that shape our shared and individual realities. This compelling series of paintings invites introspection and dialogue, offering a powerful exploration of the human condition.

Masamvu’s compositions, with their rich, tangled brushstrokes reflect this tension. In their layered abstraction, they explore the moments when one must grip tightly to a sense of self or purpose, while simultaneously acknowledging the necessity of relinquishing control in collaborative or communal contexts. ‘Mubato (The Handle)’ thus becomes an invitation to consider the point of interaction – where personal and collective agency converge.

Oscillating between abstraction and figuration, Misheck Masamvu’s (b. 1980, Mutare, Zimbabwe) works allow him to address the past while searching for a way of being in the world. Masamvu’s work offers a renewed understanding of visual culture in Africa and the decolonial project more broadly.

As one of the most prominent contemporary artists from Zimbabwe, Masamvu was included in curator and Chisenhale director Dr. Zoé Whitley’s Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics at The Institutum, Singapore (2024); a major exhibition that features 100 internationally acclaimed artists from the African and Asian continents and diasporas.

Selected solo exhibitions: Show me how ruins make a home, A Gentil Carioca, São Paulo (2024); Exit Wounds, Goodman Gallery, New York (2024); Safety Pin, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town (2023); Pivot, Bernier/Eliades Gallery, Brussels (2023); Talk to me while I’m eating, Goodman Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2021); Hata, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town (2019); Still Still, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town; Misheck Masamvu, Institut Français, Paris, France (2015); Disputed Seats, Influx Contemporary Art, Lisbon, Portugal (2009).

Notable group exhibitions: Kuvhunura/Kupinda ne mwenje mudziva, Fondation Blachere Bonnieux, France (2024) Translations: Afro-Asian Poetics, The Institutum, Singapore (2024) Inside Out, Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Geneva, Switzerland (2022); Witness: Afro Perspectives, El Espacio 23, Miami, USA (2020); Allied with Power: African and African Diaspora Art from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Pérez Art Museum Miami, Miami, USA (2020); Two Together, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa (2020); Five Bobh: Painting at the End of an Era, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town (2017); Africa 2.0 > is there a Contemporary African art?, Influx Contemporary Art, Lisbon (2010); Art, Migration and Identity, Africa Museum, Arnhem (2008); and 696, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (2008).

Selected major international exhibitions: The ‘t’ is silent, 8th Biennial of Painting, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint- Martens-Latem, Belgium (2022); STILL ALIVE, 5th Aichi Triennale, Aichi, Japan (2022), NIRIN, 22nd Sydney Biennale, Sydney, Australia (2020), the 32nd Bienal de São Paulo (2016) and his international debut at Zimbabwe’s inaugural Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011)

Selected collections: NESR Art Foundation, Luanda, Angola; A4 Arts Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa; Braunsfelder Family Collection, Cologne, Germany; Uieshema Museum, Tokyo, Japan; Perez Art Museum, Miami, USA; Pigozzi Collection, Geneva, Switzerland; Taguchi Art Collection, Tokyo, Japan; Fukutake Foundation, Auckland, New Zealand; COMMA Foundation (Damme, Belgium); ANA Collection; Lagos, Nigeria; Sigg Art Foundation, Le Castellet, France; Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, Geneva, Switzerland; and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town, South Africa.

Masamvu studied at Atelier Delta and Kunste Akademie in Munich. He lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe.