Shamillah Aasha

Born 1977 Hwange, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Shamilla Aasha is a practicing artist and teacher of art and design as well as an activist focused on supporting young women and young women artists in Bulawayo. After many years of working in painting and mixed media, in 2018 Aasha reengaged with her love of textiles through exploration of her multi-cultural background as a Shona and Indian woman living in Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe. Developing complex works addressing issues related to merging cultures and traditional practices and how they influence identity, spirituality and social status for herself and other women in her community.
Aasha’s works defy attempts at categorisation, incorporating weaving, tapestry as well as engaging with the idea and history of painting. They emerge as soft sculptures, wall-hangings made from found objects as well abstract embroideries. She describes them as sacred objects, a fitting metaphor for her narratives. This metaphor is further expanded on, as she uses sewing patterns, fabric and stitching. This process allows her to create new patterns from the old and with each layer creating a palmistry language. Shamilla has participated in numerous exhibitions locally regionally and internationally. She is currently part of an ongoing, regional collaborative project, which is interrogating the participation of women in land redistribution in Southern Africa. In addition to artistic practice, Shamilla also continues to nurture creativity minds through her trust-Asha Children’s Trust, an organisation devoted to creating safe spaces for young creatives grow and thrive outside the formal education sector.
Education
2000: Diploma Textile Design, Bulawayo School of Art and Design
Selected Exhibitions
2021: "A line beyond" Olga Speakes curator, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2021: Breathing Time, Solo exhibition. First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls
2021: Nyika/Ilizwe/Nation Collective Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo
2019: Womens’ Exhibition, Better Balance, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare.
2018: BUKA group Exhibition -The Suttie Art Space-Aberdeen,
2018 Harare contemporary, Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
2019: Nyika/Ilizwe/Nation Workshop Zimbabwe and South Africa collaborative project, interrogating the participation of woman in land redistribution in Southern Africa.
2019: Moving Stories and Travelling Rhythms workshop with Penny Siopis.
2018: Womens’ Exhibition-Equality Collective Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
2018: Binds that tie, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare
2012: On the Stoep –Suburbs Bulawayo, Poetic Brush-Bulawayo Theatre, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2010: Calling of my Soul – Solo exhibition. The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2009: Confrontation and Reconciliation exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2007: Women of the Cloth and Stone, Embassy of the United States of America in Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Lives and works in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Shamilla Aasha is a practicing artist and teacher of art and design as well as an activist focused on supporting young women and young women artists in Bulawayo. After many years of working in painting and mixed media, in 2018 Aasha reengaged with her love of textiles through exploration of her multi-cultural background as a Shona and Indian woman living in Matabeleland region of Zimbabwe. Developing complex works addressing issues related to merging cultures and traditional practices and how they influence identity, spirituality and social status for herself and other women in her community.
Aasha’s works defy attempts at categorisation, incorporating weaving, tapestry as well as engaging with the idea and history of painting. They emerge as soft sculptures, wall-hangings made from found objects as well abstract embroideries. She describes them as sacred objects, a fitting metaphor for her narratives. This metaphor is further expanded on, as she uses sewing patterns, fabric and stitching. This process allows her to create new patterns from the old and with each layer creating a palmistry language. Shamilla has participated in numerous exhibitions locally regionally and internationally. She is currently part of an ongoing, regional collaborative project, which is interrogating the participation of women in land redistribution in Southern Africa. In addition to artistic practice, Shamilla also continues to nurture creativity minds through her trust-Asha Children’s Trust, an organisation devoted to creating safe spaces for young creatives grow and thrive outside the formal education sector.
Education
2000: Diploma Textile Design, Bulawayo School of Art and Design
Selected Exhibitions
2021: "A line beyond" Olga Speakes curator, AVA Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2021: Breathing Time, Solo exhibition. First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls
2021: Nyika/Ilizwe/Nation Collective Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo
2019: Womens’ Exhibition, Better Balance, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare.
2018: BUKA group Exhibition -The Suttie Art Space-Aberdeen,
2018 Harare contemporary, Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi, Kenya
2019: Nyika/Ilizwe/Nation Workshop Zimbabwe and South Africa collaborative project, interrogating the participation of woman in land redistribution in Southern Africa.
2019: Moving Stories and Travelling Rhythms workshop with Penny Siopis.
2018: Womens’ Exhibition-Equality Collective Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
2018: Binds that tie, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare
2012: On the Stoep –Suburbs Bulawayo, Poetic Brush-Bulawayo Theatre, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2010: Calling of my Soul – Solo exhibition. The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2009: Confrontation and Reconciliation exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2007: Women of the Cloth and Stone, Embassy of the United States of America in Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.
Helen Teede

Born in 1988, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
Helen Teede (b. 1988) is a visual artist from Zimbabwe, working primarily in painting. She has recently returned to Zimbabwe from Italy havingcompleted her Masters in Visual Art at IUAV University of Venice with 110/110 and Honours. Her thesis, “Phenomenology of Painting as anIntersectional Medium” reflects on storytelling through painting as a medium that comprises ongoing formations, relying on situated knowledge and material thinking as ways of knowing that rejects ideas of total, objective knowledge, and embraces the importance of process, curiosity, failure and the acceptance of paradox. She has worked as an artist since 2013, after completing her BFA at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, joining First Floor Gallery Harare in 2015 and participating in numerous group exhibitions, including a survey of contemporary Zimbabwean painting at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art in 2018, a number of two person-shows, as well as five solo exhibitions locally and internationally. She currently lives in Harare, working as an artist and researcher with First Floor Gallery Harare.
Recent Exhibitions
•2021 Artemisia, First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls
•2021 Mirror Mirror, South South Veza, First Floor Gallery Harare
•2020-2021 Level Mosi-oa-Tunya, First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls
•2019 Traffic Festival Delle Anime Gentili: San Lorenzo in Campo, Italy.
•2019 Home Affairs, Daor Contemporary: Cape Town, South Africa
•2019 The Harare Fauves, Alon Segev Gallery: Tel Aviv, Israel.
•2019 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare: Cape Town, South Africa
•2018 Without Breaking Anything, Matter Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
•2018 Five Bobh. Zeitz Museum of Contemporary African Art (MOCAA), Cape Town. South Africa.
•2018 FNB Joburg Art Fair. First Floor Gallery Harare, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
•2018 Next Level. First Floor Gallery Harare, in Harare, Zimbabwe.
•2018 Cape Town Art Fair. First Floor Gallery Harare, in Cape Town, South Africa.
Amanda Mushate

Born 1995, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
At just twenty-seven, Mushate is establishing herself as a leading voice in contemporary Zimbabwean painting and an innovative young abstractionist with a growing international reputation. As a young woman and a new mother, in a male dominated field Mushate is also a role model and an advocate for women artists, making art and careers possible without sacrificing family. After completing her studies at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Visual Arts Studio in 2016, Mushate was mentored by Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude to develop a vibrant and unique personal vision and modes of expression, presenting her first solo exhibition in 2018 with First Floor Gallery. Like any young person, Mushate is preoccupied with finding and shaping her place and path in this world, while negotiating the complexity of interpersonal relationships. Drawing her inspiration from music and from people around her but not wanting to be constrained by over figuration, she paints and sculpts her happiness and burdens, and the things that she takes time to visualize. “Art is a way for me to write about a ‘future’ for me and for all individuals for them to never be overshadowed by negative influences that divert us to our true purpose in life.” Mushate’s passionate, playful and mazelike canvases have been winning critical and international collector attention globally with works in important private collections in Cape Town, New York, Harare, London, Amsterdam and Paris.
Selected Recent Exhibitions
2022: SCENORAMA (Gabi Ngcobo curator), Javett Art Centre - University of Pretoria, South Africa
2022: Shuviro Yamai, solo exhibition, First Floor Gallery Victoria Falls, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
2021: Investec Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare: Cape Town, South Africa
2021: Nguve ine Muridzi, solo exhibition, First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
2021: Mirror Mirror! - South South Veza, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2020: Level Mosi-oa-tunya, First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
2020: African Galleries Now, African Art Galleries- Artsy Online art fair, First Floor Gallery
2020: Tomorrows/Today solo presentation, Investec Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2019: Emerging Painting Invitational (finalist), First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
2019: On A Clear Day (Amanda Mushate - Mavis Tauzeni), First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
2018: Next Level, First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
2018: Hupenyu Hwangu Ndapedza Dzidzo (My Life-End of Lessons) solo exhibition, First Floor Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe
2017: Young Artist Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
2016: Green Shoots, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
Anne Zanele Mutema

Born 1988, Harare, Zimbabwe Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
Anne Zanele Mutema, a conceptual installation artist who is preoccupied with ideas of space, memory and phenomenology. Having graduated from National Gallery Visual Art Studio in 2010, while concurrently studying cinematography at the Zimbabwe Institute of Photography and Cinematography in 2009, Mutema spent a number of years trying to find a bridge between visual art, material practice and her interest in time based media. Through experimentation, she arrived at a unique installation approach. Creating immersive installation, she develops a dialogue between the audience and objects, focused on the idea of an Event, defined as a phenomenon located at a single point in time. Searching to create, capture and recreate Events in the context of self, culture and history is a process, project and quest for Mutema. Mutema’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, achieving awards and selected for participation in international festivals. After taking time out to build a family, Mutema, makes an important and ground-breaking return to practice, with ‘Systemic Necropolis’.
Education
2010: National Gallery Visual Art Studio
2009: Zimbabwe Institute of Photography and Cinematography
Exhibitions
2022: Ranezuro Rangu Ngariziye, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2022: Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto, Canada
2021: Vacancy (Zanele Mutema/Miriro Mwandiambira), First Floor Gallery Vic Falls, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
2020: Level | Mosi-oa-tunya, First Floor Gallery Vic Falls, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
2020: Re: Zacharaha Magasa/Zanele Mutema, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2014: Unchartered Territories-Voices In Colour, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
2014: Harare International Festival of the Arts, No Limits exhibition, Harare, Zimbabwe
2014: RAVY Festival -Galerie d’Art Contemporain, Cameroon
2014: Woman at the Top-National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
2013: Afiriperfoma Biennale, Harare, Zimbabwe
2013: In Black and White-First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
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