NATIONAL Gallery of Zimbabwe Visual Arts Studios alumnus Wycliffe Mundopa returns to the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) for his first solo exhibition long after his break onto the international art scene.
Curated by Fadzai Muchemwa the exhibition is titled Ibwe rakaraswa nemuvaki. The show has provided an opportunity to reclaim and consciously interpret the celebrated artist’s work.
The title of the exhibition is derived from a verse in the Bible but may as well have been inspired by a more contemporary usage by Jamaican reggae band Bob Marley and The Wailers. In their politically charged song Ride Natty Ride Marley sings, So they build their world on great confusion. To force on us the devil's illusion. But the stone that the builder refused. Shall be the head cornerstone. There are many possible applications to the polemic exhibition title. However, during a walkabout at NGZ, the artist shared that he is generally referring to social misfits, the marginalised and the ostracised.
Mundopa’s body of work is a sensitively observed inquiry into the social and psychological condition of women. Typically, the artist portrays women at moments when they are least guarded. A nonchalant attitude is conveyed by their partial nudity and manner of sitting with knees wide apart and skirts gathered between the thighs. While some are ridiculously bent over, others are laid about in grotesque fashion resulting in a melodramatic composition. Semi-nudity lends Mundopa’s characters a kind of freedom and independence that is unfettered by tradition and societal norms.
Even when fully clothed, Mundopa’s characters unabashedly flaunt their sensuality through exposed cleavage, clinging fabric and form-fitting attire over their voluptuous bodies. Despite the uncovered parts of their body and revealing posture, the characters exhibit no shame or guilt. They return the viewers’ gaze in a way that mirrors not an intruder or voyeur, but a mutual witness to each other’s eternal being.
To a casual observer, the scenes depicted on Mundopa’s canvas may seem vulgar and profane. One follower posted the caption ‘Ma*ure manyama’ under a post of an artwork by the artist on social media. The colloquial phrase is a wolf whistle characterising the subject as a sex worker. Although frequently trotted out by critics, the idea that any of the characters is a sexual deviant or engaged in amoral activities is not plausibly supported by compositional elements from the painting, unless one ascribes to some tired clichés and sexist stereotypes.
Mundopa is on record acknowledging that commercial sex is one of the themes embedded in his work. His admission, however, is not explicitly based on the aspect of nudity in his work. Is it not common knowledge that under difficult circumstances women in Zimbabwe are sometimes forced to sacrifice their bodies, to survive and provide for themselves?
Even with a suggestive title such as Temptation, the presence of a woman with an exposed areola, and two others wearing corsets in the painting does not make it 'obvious' that the artist is referring to sexual allurement. There is so much more going on in the painting including a disembowelled animal in the foreground! By his admission, Mundopa is never direct with his messaging.
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One of the works on exhibition is titled Dull Day on the Market and depicts four women seated on makeshift chairs and a hyena at their feet. A variety of goods for sale are displayed in the foreground while in the murky background, shadowy figures are going about their business. The market women look bored due to lack of activity and appear to be engaged in some idle conversation. Predictably some viewers will focus on the carefree posture, garish hair, outlandish makeup, colourful tights and ample bosoms.
The disempowering view of Mundopa’s protagonists as some sexy vixens betray an attitude rooted in the hypersexualisation of Black women’s bodies. Of note the symbolic presence of birds, reptiles, wild animals, livestock and domestic pets, among masked faces makes it possible for the event to be framed in ways that support progress and growth.
In a Zimbabwean cultural context, nudity can be read in a variety of ways. To be undressed in public is a sign of humiliation, but when a woman disrobes in a public space it can be a form of protest. A poor person can be seen as metaphorically naked. The supposedly obscene and profane in Mundopa’s aesthetics may be a reflection of social decay and economic bankruptcy.
A common sexist figure of speech is to equate femininity to weakness and inferiority. To act like a woman, be treated like a woman and be called a woman – kunge munhu wemukadzi is frequently lobbied as an insult towards men in modern-day Zimbabwe. The gender specificity in Mundopa’s work has nothing to do with the materiality of a woman’s body. In a subversive way, it can be held up as a mirror to a masculine identity.
A little-known fact is that from a very young age, Mundopa was raised by his stepmother after his parents got separated. To the little boy as far as he could recall he was living with his mother and father. It was only after his father’s death when relatives began discussions about custodianship that the truth about his biological mother was revealed to him. Later, it was explained that he had to stay with his father and stepmother from a tender age because somehow he became mysteriously ill whenever his mother took him away.
Mundopa insists that he never had a stepmom. Over the years he has just developed a fierce love for both the woman who helped to raise him and the one who gave birth to him. In his own words, “Ndi amai vangu handisakambova shevedza rimwe zita.”
What is it like for a boy to be raised in an African family? It does not require a stretch of imagination to understand how a majority of African men were intimately raised by women from infancy and through their pre-teen years.
They are fed, bathed, toilet trained and dressed by various women who are members of the household. Young boys may even sleep in the same room with women.
Most times the safest place against scary animals, strangers, domestic violence and civil strife is behind a woman’s skirts shielded by her body.
And when in distress due to illness or growing pangs, solace is derived from being strapped to a woman’s body. Whether carried on the back or at the front, many little boys who have now grown into big men were lulled to sleep and woke up to the sound of a woman’s heartbeat. If it was not the mother’s, it would be a big sister, the maid, a cousin, an aunt or a grandma. Their voices and touch are responsible for nurturing African boys before the world shapes them into men.
Mundopa's background and domestic experiences are what allow him to centre women in his work. He presents them, not in a burnished, idealised or sanitised way. Here, they are championed as they often are — potentially disenfranchised, emotionally vulnerable, and resilient despite everything going on around them.
