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When you first encounter Kudzanai Chiurai’s latest exhibition – titled Madness and Civilization – it feels familiar.
It’s not just the soundtrack of protest, featuring Zimbabwean chimurenga musicians Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi, that gives the exhibition that sense of known intimacy, nor is it the image of Brenda Fassie gazing out from the cover of her album Black President. It’s the theme of liberation, something the people of southern Africa have intimate knowledge of.
The recent passing of revolutionary icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was a fresh reminder of how we are still grappling with the distorted truths that are part of the legacy of the fight for freedom. All this made walking into this exhibition feel like coming home.'
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Madness and Civilization XII, 2018 Pictures: Supplied by Goodman Gallery
Never afraid to reference other artists and visionaries, Chiurai takes the title for his work from philosopher and scholar Michel Foucault’s book Madness and Civilization: A history of Insanity in an Age of Reason. For Chiurai, the ideas contained within this work relate to a central concern of his, which is whether the colonial project of “cultural disarmament” was so effective that Africa won’t ever be able to imagine a future that has not been pre-determined by its colonial past. From this came the inspiration for a new series of mixed media artwork in which Chiurai layers photographs, drawings and found letters over screen-printed posters that reflect anti-Rhodesia propaganda. Included in the artworks are letters Chiurai has written and signed as Foucault – a demonstration of how the artist imagines the scholar would have written about the colonial institutions of Rhodesia. For example, in the work Madness and Civilisation IX, Chiurai (as Foucault) writes to the armed forces: “Dear Armed Forces, the nightmare rises, not in the bright light of morning, but in a sombre suntillation, the light storm and of murder, and then appears the dynasty of the dream. Regards, Foucault.” The effect of the artworks is startling and hypnotic.
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We Live in Silence XV, 2017
Also included are images from two of Chiurai’s photographic series, namely Genesis and We Live in Silence. The glossy photos are perfectly lit, styled and shot, straddling the fine line between art and high fashion. They are Instagram ready, easy to consume. But then there’s his installation with a sacrament tableaux, including a colourfully repurposed Bible and a video loop of a woman reciting the rosary. This artwork installation does not let the viewer off as lightly as the photographic series do, and one is compelled to examine the details: pristine white gloves; a kanga with the face of Jesus used as a tablecloth; and the chapter in the Bible that has been renamed the book of Nehanda. Mbuya Nehanda was one of the leaders of the first chimurenga in Zimbabwe in the late 1890s.
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Chiurai’s work uses colonialism as a starting point and from there interrogates it relentlessly. He reimagines a history with women centred in the struggle instead of erased or sidelined. He observes how, after freedom is won, some African leaders adopt the behaviours of their colonisers. Chiurai asks what a truly decolonised future would look like. In a space where colonialism affected everything, right down to the names people were given, these ongoing conversations are vital, and not just for artists. When asked about language and its role in his work, Chiurai said: “Language is important, but I am also aware what is stated here is my personal opinion. I can’t be sure it will lead to meaningful change”.
- The exhibition is on at the Goodman Gallery in Cape Town until May 12
Genesis IV, 2016
