Portia Zvavahera Art

This evening I am posting images of art by Portia Zvavahera taken at an exhibition (01.03.25-25.05.25) at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. 

Working between two studios in her hometown of Harare, Zimbabwe, Portia (b.1985) creates large paintings that evoke her inner life. The exhibition arises from several years of conversations between Zvavahera and curator,Tamar Garb that began in the studio. An authority on the work of women artists, feminist aesthetics and art from Africa, Garb has brought together a selection of paintings that trace the devolopment of the artist's practice from 2012 to the present.

Much of Zvavahera's subject matter derives from her dreams in a practice that has its roots in the artist's ancestral beliefs and in her Christian faith.

Animals appear in her dreams, and so too in her paintings.The animals are metaphors for periods of unease or uncertainty in Zvavahera's waking life. the paintings become a means to face these beats, to create for herself a protection from the harm they might do her. 

The paintings illustrated were worked upon simultaneously, allowing a conversation to build up between canvases, of shared colours, textiles and motifs. In some of these works, Zvavahera uses palm fronds-dipped in wax or ink-to create surfaces that evoke feathery wings or perhaps grasslands.

 I Want to Stay in Love


 Ndokumbirawo Ishe


 Ndahwarara

 


 His Presence

 


 Labour Ward


 Labour Pains

 


 Embraced and Protected in You

 



Tavingvwa Nezvehusiku


 Fallen People.


 This is Where I Travelled (4)

 


 

 


 Vachengeti vangu


 This is Where I Travelled (2)

 


 The Energy Present


 Fighting Energies 2

 

Ndirikukutsvagal ndirimugomo

 


 Lifted Away

 

Ndirikumabvisa


Fighting Energies

Hide There


Ranganal Henyu (Devise Your Strategy)

This post connects nicely with Scottish art, architecture and culture.

More Information

For more information on Edinburgh and many other aspects of Scotland please refer to the Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4. This book is also available via Kindle.





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