Shamilla 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.
Key Exhibitions and Career Highlights
2023: Tomorrows/Today (solo), Investec Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare, Cape Town, South Africa
2022: Artissima, First Floor Gallery Harare, Turin, Italy
2021: I Draw Therefore I Think, South South online. First Floor Gallery Harare, Zimbabwe
2021: Breathing Time, Solo exhibition. First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
2021: Nyika/Ilizwe/Nation Collective Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, 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.
Key Exhibitions and Career Highlights
2023: Tomorrows/Today (solo), Investec Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare, Cape Town, South Africa
2022: Artissima, First Floor Gallery Harare, Turin, Italy
2021: I Draw Therefore I Think, South South online. First Floor Gallery Harare, Zimbabwe
2021: Breathing Time, Solo exhibition. First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
2021: Nyika/Ilizwe/Nation Collective Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
Troy Makaza
Born in 1994, Harare, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
Having specialized in painting in art school but always interested in form and texture, Makaza decided to develop his own hybrid medium which would enable him to unite his artistic goals. After experimenting with various materials, Makaza arrived at silicone a material which can be cast, painted with as well as woven and tied. Over the past eight years Makaza’s works progressively developed as an opportunity to speak both viscerally and philosophically to the issues Makaza finds compelling as a young Zimbabwean concerned with politics, history and power and their impact on daily lives of ordinary people as well as a globally engaged millennial. Resonating with traditional modes like weaving and tapestry but unequivocally contemporary, Makaza’s works articulate the conversation of what African and uniquely Zimbabwean contemporary can be – a paradigm internationally engaging and locally compelling. Makaza’s works has received early critical and collector acclaim, taking part in the 2018 survey of Zimbabwean contemporary art at Zeitz MoCAA, winning the Tomorrows/Today prize at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair in 2019, joining important institutional collections like that of Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden in Marrakech, Rollins College museum collection and noted private collections like Jorge Perez personal collection in Miami.
Key Exhibitions and Career Highlights
2024: Venice Biennale, Zimbabwe National Pavilion, Venice, Italy
2023: Untwisting the Fantasy, Galerie Poggi, Paris, France
2022: Kufa izuva rimwe, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2022: Instinct of great survivors, Primo Marella Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland
2021: Art Basel Miami Beach, Nova, First Floor Gallery Harare, Miami, USA
2019: Tomorrows/Today (art fair prize winner) Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare, Cape Town, South Africa
2018: Forever Neverland Solo, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
Lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe
Having specialized in painting in art school but always interested in form and texture, Makaza decided to develop his own hybrid medium which would enable him to unite his artistic goals. After experimenting with various materials, Makaza arrived at silicone a material which can be cast, painted with as well as woven and tied. Over the past eight years Makaza’s works progressively developed as an opportunity to speak both viscerally and philosophically to the issues Makaza finds compelling as a young Zimbabwean concerned with politics, history and power and their impact on daily lives of ordinary people as well as a globally engaged millennial. Resonating with traditional modes like weaving and tapestry but unequivocally contemporary, Makaza’s works articulate the conversation of what African and uniquely Zimbabwean contemporary can be – a paradigm internationally engaging and locally compelling. Makaza’s works has received early critical and collector acclaim, taking part in the 2018 survey of Zimbabwean contemporary art at Zeitz MoCAA, winning the Tomorrows/Today prize at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair in 2019, joining important institutional collections like that of Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden in Marrakech, Rollins College museum collection and noted private collections like Jorge Perez personal collection in Miami.
Key Exhibitions and Career Highlights
2024: Venice Biennale, Zimbabwe National Pavilion, Venice, Italy
2023: Untwisting the Fantasy, Galerie Poggi, Paris, France
2022: Kufa izuva rimwe, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2022: Instinct of great survivors, Primo Marella Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland
2021: Art Basel Miami Beach, Nova, First Floor Gallery Harare, Miami, USA
2019: Tomorrows/Today (art fair prize winner) Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare, Cape Town, South Africa
2018: Forever Neverland Solo, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
Photo courtesy: © Perottino-Piva-Peirone / Artissima 2023
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