Kudzanai Chiurai

(Zimbabwean, born 1981)

Revelations VII (Last Supper), 2011

Footnotes

Kudzanai Chiurai's polemical artworks are often critical of Zimbabwe's political establishment, and as a result he was expelled from the country and took exile in South Africa.

The present work, Revelation VII, depicts an Communion scene. The president, seated in the centre, is presented as a messianic figure. She stares out at the viewer, a picture of sangfroid. The other figures all appear to be in the grip of strong emotion. The soldier in the left foreground places a booted foot on a man's chest, whilst threatening with his machine gun. At the end of the table, another armed man sits in front of what appears to be a suitcase of money. A ritualistic act is being performed in front of the president; the two women kneeling to his right look on fearfully. The president appears impervious to their feelings, gazing on impassively.

The painting criticizes the self-interested actions of his country's politicians. We can feel the artist's frustration, and his desire to affect change.

Chiurai has held numerous solo exhibitions since 2003 and participated in various local and international exhibitions, such as Figures & Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography (2011) at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now (2011) at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Other notable exhibitions include The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited curated by Simon Njami at Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt (2014) and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah USA (2015), as well as Art/Afrique, Le nouvel atelier (2017) at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, Regarding the Ease of Others (2017) at the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Genesis [Je n'isi isi]- We Live in Silence at IFA in Stuttgart, Germany and Ubuntu, a Lucid Dream (2020) at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris.