Troy Makaza
Biography
Born in 1995, 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.
Education
2015: National Certificate in Fine Art - National Gallery of Zimbabwe Visual Arts Studios
Selected Exhibitions:
Solo
2024: This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
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: Age of Displacement, 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
2016: Bound Together solo, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
Group
2024: Kuvhunura: The Harare School, Fondation Blachère, Bonnieux, France
2024: An Inner Sky, Museum of Sufi Art and Culture, Paris, France
2024: FNB Art Joburg, First Floor Gallery Harare, Johannesburg, South Africa
2024: Venice Biennale, Zimbabwe National Pavilion, Venice, Italy
2024: MIART, First Floor Gallery Harare, Milan, Italy
2024: Investec Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare, Cape Town, South Africa
2023: Artissima, First Floor Gallery Harare, Turin, Italy
2023: FNB Art Joburg, First Floor Gallery Harare, Johannesburg, South Africa
2023: ARCOmadrid, Galerie Poggi, IFEMA Feria de Madrid, Spain
2023: The Armory Show, Javis Center, New York, USA
2023: La Première Pierre, Galerie Poggi, Paris, France
2023: Art Dubai, First Floor Gallery Harare, Dubai, UAE
2022: The Territories of Abstraction (Kapwani Kiwanga, Sophie Ristelhueber, Sidival Fila, Nikita Kadan and Ittah Yoda), 9 Cork Street, Galerie Jérôme Poggi, London, UK
2021: Travels with Herodotus (Domenico de Chirico curator), Galleria Bianconi, Milan, Italy
2021: Mirror Mirror! - South South Veza, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2020: Level Mosi-oa-Tunya, First Floor Gallery, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
2019: Welcome Home, Museum of Modern African Art al Maaden, Macaal, Marrakesh, Morocco
2019: Kubatana – Contemporary African Art Survey, Kunstlaboratorium, Norway
2018: THE BLACK SPHINX II, Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, Italy
2018: Next Level, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2018: ‘Five Bhob’ – Zeitz MoCAA, Cape Town, South Africa
2017: Another Antipodes/urban axis, PS Art Space, Fremantle, Australia
2017: Young Now, Hazard Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2016: ‘I am because you are’, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
2015: But He’s Got No Clothes On, Commune 1 Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2015: Harare No Limits, Harare International Festival of the Arts, 2015, Harare, Zimbabwe
2015: Kuyaruka – Age of Accountability, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe
Selected Collections
Fondazione Fiera Milano, Italy
Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakesh, Morocco
Tiroche De Leon Collection
Jorge Perez Collection
Rollins Museum of Art, Florida, USA