With a series made in the same year as Nharo Dzakanyarara (A Quiet Resistance) (currently on show in the group exhibition, I See You at Tiwani Contemporary, Lagos), the show contemplates the nature of acts of refusal and resistance that come into play in protection of selfhood, family and community.
The works on show, unique muralesque serigraphic, are a palimpsest of drawn, printed and densely layered compositions, that intersect the realms of her sub-consciousness and lived reality, expressing how one might find the spiritual energy to break psychological cycles to create hopeful and generative ones to live and thrive by.
About the artist
Virginia Chihota (b. 1983, Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe). Introspective in nature, Virginia Chihota’s work is deeply influenced by personal experiences. In a reflection on intimacy and the human figure, she has addressed themes such as childbearing, childrearing, marriage, kinship, bereavement and faith. At once mundane and transcendental, rife with allusions to everyday life, and religious and folkloric symbolism, her large works on paper display a raw, expressionist verve and a striking grace in the elaborate use of patterns, textures and layers.
Having trained as a printmaker, Chihota’s use of screen-printing is as confident as it is original. She mixes printing techniques with drawing to produce unique works of striking formal complexity.
Please note that Tiwani Contemporary is closed on Sundays.
Image credit: (detail) Virginia Chihota, Miganhu yodimbuka (Boundary lines have started breaking), 2022. Courtesy of the artist and Tiwani Contemporary.
