Portia Zvavahera: Wayfinding by Stevenson

PORTIA ZVAVAHERA WAYFINDING

3 JULY – 1 AUGUST 2014

Chipo, 2011, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150 x 89cm

LERATO BERENG IN CONVERSATION WITH PORTIA ZVAVAHERA

Yes, the synagogue, it’s like the studio I had before, the funeral parlour where I used to work. It is quiet but creepy. It’s not a good feeling. I don’t think that I could work at night in that room. The parlour too, I guess, is religiously and emotionally loaded and you feel like there’s already a set of practices and ways to approach the space. One feels as though there is a kind of respect that is demanded from the space itself. The funeral parlour was the first studio that I rented. I produced deep paintings in that studio, scary. No one would buy a painting and put it in his house because of the feeling it brought, it wasn’t good. I was in the room where they display the coffins and in the back section was where they

LB: Yesterday we visited several Joburg artists’ studios.

make the coffins. It was big and narrow, and I had a corner

It was interesting for me to see you in the context of

where I would produce paintings – but when you looked on

other people’s spaces, understanding other painters and

either side all you saw was coffins. People would come in,

how they relate to their spaces.

crying, to buy coffins. It wasn’t good.

PZ: I enjoyed yesterday, especially meeting with Zander

Colour was a conversation that you had with almost

Blom. We connect because he is a painter and so am I. He is

all of the artists we visited. I’m curious about how you

not limited. For me, if I have to paint in a clean room, I feel

choose your palette. What brings you to a particular

like I don’t have the freedom to produce ... I’m not free ...

kind of colour? The older works that were produced in

Zander’s studio felt like a space where you can do anything.

the funeral parlour were darker and heavier, even in

You can paint on the wall, you can produce something crazy.

subject matter, but in these more recent works you have

I just felt like I wanted to paint that day.

used colours and particular motifs in a different way. How do you get to these colours and that particular light

There is something to be said about a space that you can

in your painting?

really occupy as opposed to, say, Nicholas Hlobo’s studio where the place becomes so much a part of what you’re

It depends on the mood that I’m in when I paint. I love red

doing every day, you’re so conscious of the space that

and if you look at most of my paintings I seldom leave red

you are kind of constrained in what you can do, especially

out. I think because it’s a strong colour, I love it, it makes

when you’re a painter, I imagine.

my work ... I feel a painting is complete when I add red. But

with all those other colours, I just end up having them on

show I recall you saying how exhausted you felt, as

my palette. And there is also this purple that is on many

though you had just given birth. I’m interested in this idea

paintings ... to me it feels like a royal colour. I love to use it

of creative practice as a kind of labour. I was wondering

because I feel like we are special in a way … we are kings

what goes into producing a new body of work. How do you

and queens!

begin to conceptualise and conceive this ‘child’ that will come into the world?

I think of red as the colour of vitality and blood, and also the colour of romance and love and warmth, the colour

I start by looking at my last painting. That’s why it’s really

of fire and anger ... and also of communism. Are you very

difficult to say goodbye to this painting (Vhoiri Rimwe,

conscious of the responses that your use of colour may

2014), because I feel as though I have nowhere to start now,

generate? Say you make a painting that is very warm,

because it’s not at my studio with me. So I think I will start

about living … do you think, ‘Ah, red would breathe a

by looking at that last painting and produce something that

sense of vitality into the work’; or in a work that is really

goes along with those ideas.

frenetic, energetic, would you use red and consciously think, ‘I’m painting angry red’?

So could we say that new bodies of work are a continuation of a particular narrative thread?

Yes, I’m very conscious of how red communicates in each work. When you have different colours, if you put red, it

Yeah, it continues, and then ideas will come after I start

changes the feeling of the painting. Red in each of my

doing something. Like what happened with this exhibition

paintings means something different. Like the way you are

– I started with the bride (Ini, 2014), and then everything

describing it. There are so many different translations of

came after that.

red on a painting. Sometimes when you put red it is warm in a painting, sometimes it is fighting, it is very violent,

Could you tell me a little more about this narrative?

sometimes it is about danger.

Amongst other things, I read your work as speaking from a feminine position from within relationships,

You and Serge Alain Nitegeka spoke about red too.

motherhood, domesticity, religion.

Yes, I asked him why he uses red. He said because of the red

It is about my life experiences. My dreams. It was really

on the packaging of the crates!

interesting to hear from Nicholas Hlobo what he mentioned about dreams. It’s like you had a dream about this person

He also said that he feels as though black and white can

– let’s say my daughter – but you can’t recognise her, you

be dead colours, and red gives life. He uses red for its

can’t really tell, you can’t really remember the face but you

vitality. The red line becomes a kind of incision in the

just know it was her. So when I’m producing I want the same

panel. Red also makes me think of bleeding, of birth.

feeling as in my dream ... Knowing that it was someone …

After you had finished this body of work for your current

knowing that someone was there.

So these works are a combination of dreams and real life

paintings. Perhaps except for the painting of your baby,

experience – depictions of you coming into womanhood,

Fifi (2014) – although she too is a female body. In these

becoming a mother, getting married, finding your way

works the bodies have particular positions, they appear in

through the world as a woman?

particular poses: women lying down, joined under a single veil, kneeling, with outstretched hands. I’m curious about

Yes, because it is really difficult; it’s easy when you are single

these motifs that recur.

… like now I have two kids, and my husband, and art as well. Art demands more. So it’s really difficult. I am trying to find

I’m always searching for ways through my work, so whenever

a way to balance the two. And I want to take care of my kids

I want help with something, I get into a position of prayer.

myself, so I find a way.

Whenever I’m doing the dishes, taking care of the babies, I’m asking God at the same time to help me find a way. All the

It’s interesting that you speak of art as another child –

women are simply asking. It is me in the paintings. I cannot

probably your most difficult child. When I hear how you

speak about you, I can only speak about myself.

speak about your work, it really does seem like something that comes wholly from within and is a kind of release of

It feels as though the women in your work are often in a

a process – a birth of self and a giving of self. I remember

state of ecstatic reverie, wholly consumed and enlivened

seeing you and your husband Gideon yesterday sitting on the

in their acts of praising and asking.

gallery floor, just looking at Vhoiri Rimwe, saying goodbye. Coming before God, to humble yourself before him. It is hard, it’s painful, but then I have to go with the hope that I will produce a better painting than the one I have just done. So

Yes, there’s definitely a sense of this humbling. And in

letting go gives me hope. It is gone, but you produce another.

many works you get a feeling that these women are speaking to a higher power; but then there are others

Do you sometimes feel that … if you had this body of work

where it feels far more immanent and domestic, where

sitting around you, and you were to try and produce a

the husband/wife relationship is spoken about. I think of

new body of work, you would be stifled somewhat by the

works like I’m Sorry and I Feel Single…

old work? Like if the work is still there, part of your world cannot move and shift?

In a relationship it is not always smooth, and you sometimes go in different directions. You find that in difficult times

When they are gone, it does push me, but then when I’m

there are moments where you need to ask for forgiveness,

working, I need to go back to these older works as well, to see

from yourself or your partner. I think that’s what I’m doing

what I’ve been producing.

there – asking for forgiveness so that we can get along and we can deepen further in our relationship.

There is a repetition of certain motifs in your work. For example, the female body appears in almost all of your

Can you tell me more about some of the titles? I’m

especially intrigued by some of the darker titles, eg.

I get an idea of the next print that I want to do.

Ndakunyura Pakaipa (Am Sunk in Grave Danger) and Panerima Rakakomba (Evil Darkness).

How do you prepare the print?

It’s a struggle, I’m in a completely dark room, and everything

It’s a relief printing. I use cardboard. There’s a card with

I want to do is not really working. I’m struggling to get

layers. I draw the image, and then I cut off whatever I want

there. It means a lot of things: I’m a sinner, I need your help,

to leave, whatever colour I want to leave. And then I print, I

my kids are not feeling well … These titles are about those

come back again, I make a drawing ... Light to dark colours.

difficult times. The print is something that recurs in most of the Can you tell me a little about some of the other images

paintings. Do you start with a print and then imagine an

that appear in your work?

image around it, or do you print first and then build the figure around this?

With the flowers ... I never liked flowers. I never liked to wear a floral dress, never in my life. But then I received

Let’s look at Vhoiri Rimwe. I started by painting the red, and

flowers for the first time from my husband. The feeling

then I started putting the figures onto the canvas and then

was like in a movie when you see people giving each other

I painted the red together with those other colours, leaving

flowers and you’re like, ’What do I do with them? Come on,

some places where I want to print. So it’s like printing,

flowers, for what?’ But it is symbolic, it means a lot when

painting, printing, painting ...

you get flowers. So I thought, ’What should I do with these flowers?’ And I started drawing them. But then I hate floral

Vhoiri Rimwe is one of the largest scale works you’ve

dresses. I started to look at different things about flowers.

done thus far. It means ‘One Veil’. What inspired the many

That was when I saw Gustav Klimt’s work. When I saw his

figures in a single composition?

paintings I was like, ‘Ok, now I know where to use these flowers.’ Also at the time I was feeling like a bride, I was still

I had a dream of a wedding and I tried to remember the

unmarried then and I wanted to get married. I’d think about

dream by making some sketches. In our culture, when you

what kind of dress I wanted, so that’s when I started doing

get married, when you officially go to your husband’s place

the brides and the flowers ...

you have to cover yourself with a sheet and you have your aunt and your sisters escort you there. The bride’s mother is

And the patterns that you choose?

not allowed to come. You and all the women in your family are under a sheet, covered. Your mother-in-law and other in-

I look at fashion. In Zimbabwe now people are mostly

laws will come and pay you money so that you take off the

wearing floral dresses. You find a woman wearing a floral

sheet. So you all walk in a procession, a queue.

dress with lots of different designs, and also some pulling socks, the style of dress gets very busy. I look at them and

And where does the idea of the veiling originate?

It’s from our culture. Like in a ‘Western’ wedding when you

they were brought up. So I guess I want to finish at the

are a virgin you have to cover yourself with a veil, but in our

beginning, as it were, by asking you how you began the

culture, whether you are a virgin or not, you have to cover

remarkable art journey you’re on?

yourself when you go to the husband’s family. I started doing art when I was in form one, here it’s grade What else happens during this ritual?

eight. I didn’t want to do art but there was no space in food and nutrition, fashion, fabrics and the other available

When you get to your husband’s family’s house, you sleep

subjects, it was only art that was left for me, and then I had

over and the next morning you have to give them water for

to do it. But when I was in primary school we had a subject

bathing, and also some Vaseline and a towel. When you sweep

that I used to enjoy, where we were told Bible stories and

outside, they pay you. Everything you do there, they pay.

then had to come up with a picture or a drawing about that story. I was always very good at this during my primary

Can we also speak a little more about the religious

school but I didn’t realise it. Only in form one did I start doing

aspect of your work and how this impacts on your

art, and I was the best student there. I never thought I could

practice as an artist?

take it on as a career, I wanted to do computers. I did my O-Levels and I passed art with an A, which was surprising

I relate my work to stories in the Bible. For instance, Jesus

to me. ‘So what are you going to do?’ my parents were

says [John 14:6]: ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ That’s

asking. After that I saw a programme on TV – there was this

where I got the title for the show, Wayfinding. If you look

lecturer inviting students for art classes and I asked, ‘Mama,

at Zachariah in the Bible, he was short and wanted to find

can I go there?’ and my father went to get information and

his way to Jesus, he had to climb a tree to get there. For

came back and told me to get together more pieces of what

me it is very interesting how he finds his way to Jesus. The

I had done. I put together a small portfolio and then I got a

Israelites wanted to come out of Egypt; God created a way

place to do art. I went to the BAT Visual Arts Studio under

for them. Also, looking at the way we live these days, the

the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Afterwards I went to the

taxi drivers in our country – for instance, when there is

Harare Polytechnic. That’s how I began making my art.

traffic, they always find a way to get to where they want to be. So it’s very interesting to me how everyone finds their way to get what they want. Yesterday we were talking about how we came to work with art. I was telling you how I came to curate, what it was like coming from a small place, Maseru, that’s not an art metropolis at all, and trying to find ways to communicate this sense of distance ... it’s interesting to see how someone develops their work in relation to how

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Ward 12, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 93 x 73.5cm

Labour Ward, 2012, oil-based printing ink on paper, 147 x 121cm

Wangu Mutematema, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 100 x 74cm

Labour Pain, 2012, oil-based printing ink on paper, 100 x 75cm

Commitment, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 118 x 81.5cm

On New Grounds, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 151 x 101cm

Ready to Toss, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 101 x 76cm

My Bridal Dress, 2012, oil-based printing ink on paper, 144 x 78cm

Ndinewe, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on paper, 150 x 105cm

Nyama Imwe, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 75 x 100cm

Every Knee Shall Bow, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150 x 120cm

Wandipfekedza Maruva, 2011, oil-based printing ink on paper, 119 x 76cm

Tauya Naye, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 115 x 150cm

Gentle Touch, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150 x 124cm

Ndizembere (Lean on me), 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 128.5 x 150.5cm

Moments, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150 x 96cm

Zvakaoma, 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150 x 98cm

Akandimhara (Heavy burden), 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 144 x 95.5cm

Ndinzweiwo Ishe, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on paper, 150.5 x 103.5cm

Akanditakura (Head over hills), 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150.5 x 89cm

I Am Sorry, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 155 x 96cm

Ndakavhumbamira, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 157.5 x 110cm

Fifi, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on paper, 150 x 90cm

Ini, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 148.5 x 103cm

I Feel Single, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 155 x 97cm

Ndapfugama Wani, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 155.5 x 94cm

Ndiregererewo Murume Wangu, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 153 x 98cm

Vhoiri Rimwe, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 157 x 455cm

Ndouya Kwamuri Jehova, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on paper, 150 x 99cm

Ndokumbirawo Ishe, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on paper, 98 x 150cm

Separate the Wheat from the Chaff (Chosen Few), 2013, oil-based printing ink on paper, 129 X 150cm

Ndouya Kwamuri Ishe, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 156 x 99.5cm

Ndakumbira, 2014, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150.5 x 102cm

Ndakunyura Pakaipa, 2014, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150 x 123cm

Ndahwarara, 2014, oil-based printing ink on paper, 150.5 x 97cm

Panerima Rakakomba, 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on paper, 126.5 x 151cm

Portia Zvavahera was born in 1985 in Juru, Zimbabwe, and lives in Harare. She studied at the BAT Visual Arts Studio under the auspices of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe between 2003 and 2005, after which she obtained a firstclass Diploma in Visual Arts from Harare Polytechnic in 2006. Zvavahera held a solo exhibition, Under My Skin, at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, in 2010, and has taken part in numerous group exhibitions in that country. She was an artist-in-residence at Greatmore Studios, Cape Town, in 2009. In 2013 she was the recipient of the 10th Tollman Award for the Visual Arts, and was one of five artists exhibited at the Zimbabwean pavilion in Venice. Zvavahera exhibited at Stevenson Cape Town in January 2014, and Johannesburg in July, and she is the recipient of the FNB Art Prize 2014.

JOHANNESBURG 62 Juta Street Braamfontein 2001 Postnet Suite 281 Private Bag x9 Melville 2109 T +27 (0)11 403 1055/1908 F +27 (0)86 275 1918 CAPE TOWN Buchanan Building 160 Sir Lowry Road Woodstock 7925 PO Box 616 Green Point 8051 T +27 (0)21 462 1500 F +27 (0)21 462 1501 info@stevenson.info www.stevenson.info Catalogue 80 August 2014 ÂŠ 2014 for works by Portia Zvavahera: the artist ÂŠ 2014 for text: the authors Front cover Vhoiri Rimwe (detail), 2014, oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 157 x 455cm Art direction & design Gabrielle Guy Layout assistance James King Photography Mario Todeschini, Anthea Pokroy Printing Hansa Print, Cape Town