Mavis Tauzeni

It is Reality!
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First Floor Gallery - Harare

 The defining feature of Mavis Tauzeni’s practice is thoroughness. Thoroughness means commitment to outcome over time, doing it right towards doing it right now. This is why Tauzeni often describes her works as experiments. The is a long journey with a goal, that only she is aware of and the works we see are signposts, sharing with us progress on that journey rather than triumphs or conquests. This the intimate sincerity of her practice, detachment from ego, which allows audiences to enter her world, as a space of exploration, discovery, wonder but also commitment. For Tauzeni, thoroughness is not however an expression of pedantry or any form of stasis. On the contrary, every work while considered, complex and elaborate is composed of a multitude of elements some nuanced, detailed and intricate, others spontaneous, expressive and gestural. The elements and the process of Taunzeni’s work are contiguous with her subject matter. For the past decade and a half the artist has devoted her work towards asserting a right to not being reduced to any single stereotype of an artist, a woman, an African, a Zimbabwean. A right to grow and develop and change rather than confine herself to a singular stylistic outcome. ‘It Is Reality!’ Tauzeni is bringing us into another element of that conversational journey, with major news works speaking to the idea authenticity in an age of increasing illusion. For Tauzeni, reality is about taking time to understand, engage with and really see any person. None of us are just one thing at any given moment, even as we try to reduce ourselves to the posed, made up, filtered selfie on Instagram and none of our moments are set in stone. Working with her arsenal of stitching, spray paint, stenciling, card print collage as well as painting achieves infinitely engaging and compassionate compositions even when the subject is a woman wearing boxing gloves. There is a constant reminder in the work that we are a part of nature and imbedded inextricably in the natural world as our natural home and freedom, despite the artificial obstacles we build for ourselves masquerading as success. And when you feel saturated by all the colour and dynamics of the work, Tauzeni gives us an additional gift of discovery. Each work has an alternative image imbedded on the flipside of the canvas as a rejoinder to never feel confident in knowing absolutely everything about someone simply by looking at the surface presented. Tauzeni’s reality is one of growing from strength to strength as a person and an artist and with every new body of work we get the opportunity to share in the joy of her achievements as well as a sense of anticipation of all the things yet to come.

​Valerie Kabov
©2023

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​It is Reality! Artist Statement
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Reality is an illusion. Stop ‘fronting’ that is the blessing. We all are hidden in little boxes purposely because of parts of ourselves we are not happy about and we did not understand because of social doctrine that says the infinite God who with all his expression, created all of us absolutely different on purpose wants everyone to fit into the same suit. That is deception. The real you is far more interesting than the fake somebody else. Reality is not from the outside in, it is from the inside out. Who the hell are you? When you do not pretend or falsify, reality is wonderful to finally find. We have to be introduced to each other. This is the first time you all are meeting me, do not think you met me before and as l grow you are going to meet me some more and exposed to me some more. You all never knew me. I want to introduce you to me and I am just getting to know me and anything that is not growing is dead. Growing is a natural part of life, we all supposed to change. Experience teaches you to be a whole person, to be able to tell the truth about ourselves. Do not try to put me into a box because I am not in one.

​Mavis Tauzeni

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