And The Liberation Of Artistic Imagination
SOMETIME in October, 2017 I had an opportunity to sip coffee and discuss politics with Paul Bayethe Damasane – the Principal Director in the then Ministry of Rural Development, Preservation and Promotion of National Culture and Heritage.
I have known this man to be quite reserved when it comes to discussing politics. Much of our conversations have largely spanned across philosophy, arts and spirituality.
To my surprise, that day we went hard into the core of politics. Equally, in our conversation, Cde Damasane indicated some subtle displeasure about the crisis of legitimacy which had hit the ruling. We discussed the contemptible and sycophant political culture which was prevailing in Zanu-PF courtesy of the G40 cabal.
I could feel that Cde Damasane was openly agitated. Besides, he had no option besides expressly throwing in some innuendos of dissatisfaction about the lack of ideological clarity in the ruling party.
Apart from discussing the factional lunacy which was trendy at the mischievous behest of the anti-revolutionary cabal, we also talked about the threat of the regime change agenda to the arts sector.
Our switch to deliberating on the crisis of the neo-liberal capture of the arts sector was cut short as we had to both leave the National Gallery. As we parted ways, Cde Damasane alluded to the biblical narrative of blind Bartimaeus who was cured from his infirmity, “Do not worry comrade, the party is going through Bartimaeus moment. It won’t be long before the party and the nation reach a Bartimaeus moment. It won’t be long!” Damasane exclaimed.
In no time, Operation Restore Legacy struck and alas the Bartimaeus moment arrived! Recently we were reunited and we met again at the Gallery.
Then he (Damasane) repeated his words once more as if to remind me of a fulfilled prophecy. “Ngathini kuwe (what did I tell you) the last time we were here?” asked Damasane.
We traded our past anxieties with laughter in celebration of that one Bartimaeus day which visited Zimbabwe. This made perfect sense considering that we were at the official opening of the exhibition launched at the Gallery.
This exhibition features a collage of epic photographs captured during the nationwide solidarity matches which endorsed the famous Operation Restore Legacy.
This is one of the many art platforms I have attended which is quite unique and had a refreshing narrative to the political situation in Zimbabwe.
The exhibition features pictorial depictions of the euphoria around Zimbabwe’s current political transition. The exhibited pieces of art articulate the emotional imagination of a beginning which was brought by public dedication to erasing ineptitude and bringing change, optimism and faith in the Government.
All the pieces meticulously alternate the popularised mistruths about the diverse and an inclusive consensual starting point which birthed the current political stability in the country.
Of late, various art genres have been exploited to promote a remembering which dismembers while nurturing irrational fragmented patriotic consciousness.
Therefore, it is encouraging to witness the National Gallery in Zimbabwe taking the urgency of providing an inclusive reflection of a national experience which in some quotas is manipulated to discredit the potential of the new Government in promoting social cohesion and integration.
The initiative taken up by the National Gallery to launch such a phenomenal exhibition saliently emphasises the need for Zimbabweans to cultivate collective self-determination and sustainable nation building.
Each piece hung on the walls of the gallery expresses the beauty of our inclusive and yet diverse aspirations to recover the dignity of our nation against a background of yesterday’s mistakes.
This rightfully justifies the logic of this exhibition’s theme; “Lost and Found: Resilience, Uncertainty, Expectations, Excitement and Hope”.
This magnificent highlight (exhibition) of our nation’s beauty was curated by veteran artist and Deputy Director of the National Gallery in Zimbabwe, Cde Raphel Chikukwa. Artists whose materials were exhibited include; Matthew Boka, Mukahanana, Jekesai Nyikizana, Anthony Ziyange, KB Mpofu, Ralph Chikambi, Divanna Jogi, Lucy Broderick, among others.
I hope these artists will continue to dedicate their work in the service of nation building through ambit of their creativeness and more so, highlight the era in which the nation was lost to madness – a key reality that had encapsulated Zimbabwe, yet was not emphasised in the exhibition.
Of note, the interface rallies that were largely predominated by Grace Mugabe’s direct involvement in the public ridicule of government officials, in some instances, using the very same platforms to propagate her factional narcissist meddling in a way that undermined the principles of Zanu-PF; its reputable tradition of discipline and a culture of unity in the party.
The same madness cascaded to some sectors of government who pushed the factional agenda over national interests, and hence Zimbabwe was lost, only to be found through Operation Restore Legacy.
This will help in safeguarding the preservation and promotion of our country’s cultural heritage.
Over the years, art has been abused to stimulate social divisions through donor funded initiatives. In some cases, art has also been used to popularise taboos in our societies at the same time paving way for our cultural adulteration, but most importantly art has been manipulated to advocate for sinister regime change activities.
Through an innumerable scatter of festivals, art exhibitions and concerts, antistate narratives have been used to substitute positive national memories with negatives.
This façade of protest reflects a dearth in the historical conceptualisation of the real sources of Zimbabwe’s “failure”. These protestant art genres have been key in peddling borrowed anger concealed as sincere discontent encouraging progressive political transformation. Besides, this is mere neo-liberal protest framed on the Rene Descartes’ “Cogito ergo sum/ I think and therefore I am” disposition. The sad irony is that this value system is de-linked from the agenda which patriotic African artists should be propagating; the “I think from where I am” principle.
This may not be possible as long we do not take the initiative to finance our own national memory making.
Therefore, there is need for state institutions to also take a pro-active role in financing the telling and curating of our national stories. This way, a Bartimaeus outcome to the relevance of the arts sector in nation-building will become a reality.
Richard Mahomva is an independent researcher and a literature aficionado interested in the architecture of governance in Africa and political theory.