Our current artist-in-residency Admire Kamudzengerere (Zimbabwe, 1981) interrogates contemporary political economic and societal issues, often concerning cultural identity and social hierarchies. His paintings, prints, videos and installations are vehicles through which he makes these realities tangible, and function as a mirror that we look into to get a deeper understanding of human behaviour. His works form a chessboard on which he positions the present in relation to repeating histories and mythologies.
Admire Kamudzengerere recently finished a two year residency at the 'Rijksakademie voor Beeldende Kunsten' in Amsterdam.
He is guest at the Thami Mnyele Foundation until the beginning of April, 2014.
VPRO:
"De Zimbabwaanse beeldend kunstenaar Admire Kamudzengerere trok tijdens de Rijksacademie Open aandacht door zijn interessante benadering van culturele verschillen. In zijn werk laat hij de talloze rollen zien die hij - hier in Amsterdam en in Harare - als modern kunstenaar elke dag weer speelt, van witte neger, zwarte blanke en alles daartussen. Hoe ziet Holland eruit als je uit Harare komt?"
Watch the entire Interview Admire Kamudzengerere met VPRO De Avonden.
The Herald online:
"Admire Kamudzengerere has since 2012 been based at the Rijks Academie, Holland. He hails from Harare and was born on December 27, 1981. He attended Hatfield High School, where he completed his A-Levels. Out of over 2 000 applicants worldwide, he was short-listed among the top 12 artists of his age group and experience to be awarded a residency at the prestigious international studios in Amsterdam.
He is famous for his lively allegorical depictions of urban and country Zimbabwean life – and became the second Zimbabwean to attain a scholarship from Rijks Academie, in the Netherlands following artist Patrick Makumbe. His animated, surreal figurative paintings are based on a tacit understanding of abstract form and an incisive knowledge of animal and human anatomy and gesture."
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