Five Artists, Five Nations: Taking To The Road To Find Southern Africa's Hidden Stories

(MENAFN- The Conversation) Zimbabwean art historian Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti travelled by road to five southern African countries – Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Namibia, Mozambique and Zambia – in pursuit of hidden stories. His mission was to visit artists in their studios to learn about the environments in which they work and what inspires them.

The opportunity to do the road trip arose from a writing fellowship with the Arak Collection , one of the largest contemporary African art collections in the Middle East.

The result is a new book called Chronicles of the Road: Five Nations, Five Artists that documents Muvhuti's experiences. At the same time it maps and gathers voices that are not often encountered in academic studies, or even on bookstore shelves.

As a scholar of southern African literary cultures and intellectual histories, I interviewed Muvhuti about his project.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu: Your new book visits places that are very diverse in terms of language, colonial histories, cultures. What did you learn from the trip and from the works of the artists you chose to profile?

Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti: I intentionally opted to travel by road. I wanted to talk to fellow passengers on buses and public taxis. I wanted to appreciate the landscapes, the rugged terrains and the sacred sites, as well as gain insight into the people's daily rituals, joys and struggles. I wanted to experience the vibe of the African market scene, and to chat with Yango (ride-hailing service) drivers.

Importantly, I wanted to gain an appreciation of the art scenes the selected artists work and operate in. I wanted to hear from other cultural workers working with the artists. I'll admit that an exercise like this one needed more time than I had.

These artists are inspired by different elements of their cultures and everyday practices, which makes the region's art output so multifaceted, rich and complex. But the key lesson was that we share a lot in common, despite the colonial demarcations separating us, and the ethnic differences.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu: Exploring southern Africa through cartography, or mapmaking, can help our understanding of the region's interconnected histories. Was mapping part of your objective?

Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti: Central to my project was the idea that the selected artists draw much from their surroundings. So I wanted to find out if there are transnational connections in their practices.

You will be amazed to hear of the impact of #RhodesMustFall (a South African student protest movement calling for decolonisation) on the work of Botswana's Thebe Phetogo . He was a student at the University of Cape Town when the fallist movement emerged.

An anecdote which excited me is the impact a 1990s visit to Zimbabwe had on Namibian artist Rudolf Seibeb 's thinking, making him explore other media. He'd visited the Batapata Workshop .

The Congolese artist Zemba Luzamba credits their South African mentor, woodcut artist Boyi Molefe , for the mixed-media collaging technique he uses. Their connection is a fruitful result of Luzamba's migration to South Africa – despite it being a nation keen on driving out African migrants.

Even though southern Africa's original inhabitants, the Khoisan , are rare in Zambia, their paintings inform Zambian artist Kalinosi Mutale 's abstract“Kalidrawings”.

Mozambican artist Nelly Guambe 's story of turning to the creative process as a form of catharsis has a universal appeal and resonates with the Mexican surrealist painter Frida Kahlo 's practice . Like Kahlo, who took up painting while confined to her bed after a life-threatening accident, Guambe used art to help her recover after an accident in Maputo.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu: You write that the research employs a biographical approach. The artists in the book were born between 1964 and 1993. Do they represent different generations, movements, or turns in the art history of the region?

Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti: Their ages seem to suggest intergenerational connections, yet they are all contemporary artists, working today.

Seibeb has been practising for a long time, though his work started being noticed only recently, thanks to spaces like The Project Room and the Cape Town Art Fair .

Mutale, who was very active up to the 1990s, had taken a hiatus from public art exhibitions because he felt his conceptual practice was misunderstood and unappreciated by the Zambian audience.

Zemba has lived in at least three countries, and migration stories inform his work.

Phetogo and Guambe are young artists whose careers and practices resonate with the work of other young artists in the region.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu: What is the Arak Collection's significance to African art?

Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti: Arak is a Doha-based independent private collection of African art amassed over the past decade. Unlike the typical western collectors of African art that we are most used to, Arak is“committed to fostering critical dialogue around contemporary art practices, with a focus on African art through exhibitions, publications, research and educational programs”. It offers emerging writers and curators from the continent fellowships and opportunities that include workshops across Africa.

Tinashe Mushakavanhu: Finally, what is your sense of the state of art writing in southern Africa?

Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti: It is not very encouraging. Only South Africa has a regular and robust art writing practice. This is not surprising because South Africa has universities and art institutions which teach art history, curatorial studies and art criticism. It also has multiple platforms to publish the work.

The same cannot be said of nations like Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia or Zimbabwe, which are yet to introduce such programmes. The few art writers in these countries either learned the skill on their own or have been trained in South Africa or elsewhere.

Read more: Shepherd Ndudzo's celebrated sculptures tell an untold history of southern African art

A lot more needs to be done to encourage art writing to complement the work the artists are doing. Some of these nations are producing some of the region's most exciting artists whose work is not well covered or not noticed due to lack of art writing.

MENAFN23012025000199003603ID1109122590