Artist tackles violence, building peace through drawings
MUTARE-BASED visual artist Andrew Zivengwa is tackling political violence and advocating for peace through his captivating and alluring artworks whose showcase coincided with the pre-election campaigns — a period often associated with the vice.
Zivengwa who is an all-time winner in the drawing and painting categories at the Manicaland agricultural show, recently drew a fascinating drawing named ‘the holding hands’(pictured).
The drawing which shows two hands holding together, a symbol that signifies and calls for peace.
“These two hands belong to two different people from different political parties. It shows unity and the peace that we as Zimbabweans should let prevail at a time when it is most needed, and the time is just before the coming elections. We should be at peace with each other despite us belonging to different political parties and school of thoughts.
“The holding hands also signify the different ethnic groups that we have in the country and how despite the different ethnicities we have to come to terms with the fact that we are one country, one nation, and one people who should enjoy a shared identity in our diversity. We are all Zimbabweans, and being violent towards the next group of people should be out of the question. Art is the communication of intimate concepts that cannot be faithfully portrayed by words alone which is the reason why I put down my pencil to paper to communicate this message of peace and stability,” said Zivengwa.
Zivengwa also said his visual artwork has helped spread the peace and stability awareness towards the marginalised deaf population in the country.
He said because most artists use their voices to promote peace and stability, leaving out the deaf community as it cannot decipher the message being communicated.
“It is mainly the reason why I use visual art, it helps cater for the deaf and most forgotten people in the country. There is need to communicate the peace and tolerance issues and raising awareness issues with them too because they count,” he said.
Zivengwa specialises in painting, drawing and is studying commercial design at Bulawayo Polytechnic.
He encouraged upcoming artists to follow their dreams and be who they want to be.
“We are all artistes, let us all paint our lives upon the canvas of reality. Mix colours of your own and apply emotion liberally. Do not be afraid to let your brush strokes show and above all else, make sure your art has soul,” said Zivengwa.