Today we’d like to introduce you to Nothando Chiwanga.
Hi nothando, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Nothando Chiwanga is a Zimbabwean visual artist, photographer, and performance artist born in Harare in 1997. She graduated from the National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design and has developed a multidisciplinary practice that combines photography, performance, collage, and installation art.
At DHV Artworks Gallery in Dallas Texas showed a work that explored themes of memory, identity, womanhood, ancestry, domestic life, cultural heritage, and the lived experiences of Black women. Using my own body as a tool for storytelling, she examines how women navigate tradition, social expectations, and contemporary life in Zimbabwe.
Chiwanga has exhibited both locally and internationally, including exhibitions such as:
New Signatures At National Gallery of Zimbabwe
Notes for Tomorrow at Instabul turkey and Haverdford College
Young Contemporaries 2022 Rele Gallery Lagos Nigeria
If These Walls Could Talk At Mbare Art Space in Harare Zimbabwe
Crossing the Lines contemporary voices of Zimbabwe and south Africa At Dhv Artworks in Dallas Texas with Indibano Art Residency found by Bukekile Dube.
One of her notable projects, Queen of the Underground, celebrated the resilience and hidden histories of women who challenged colonial and social restrictions in Zimbabwe. Through photography, installation, and performance, she highlighted stories that are often overlooked in mainstream historical narratives.
Artweb Africa
Artistically, Nothando Chiwanga’s practice positions the female body as a site of memory, resistance, transformation, and cultural knowledge. Her work continues to contribute to conversations around gender, identity, history, and social justice in contemporary African art.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey as an artist has not been without challenges. Limited resources, financial constraints, and access to opportunities often tested my determination. There were moments of self-doubt, rejection, and uncertainty about the future of my creative practice. Balancing personal responsibilities with the demands of making art also required resilience and sacrifice.
As a Zimbabwean artist, navigating local and international art spaces has meant continuously proving the value of my work while seeking platforms that amplify African voices. Despite these obstacles, each challenge became a lesson, shaping my artistic vision and strengthening my commitment to telling stories of memory, identity, ancestry and resilience through photography, performance, and installation.
The obstacles I encountered did not stop my journey; they became part of the story that continues to inspire my work today.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My work explores memory, identity, ancestry, and womanhood through photography, performance and installation. I use the body and everyday materials to create visual narratives that reflect lived experience and cultural heritage. Through ritual like gestures and symbolic objects, I investigate how history is carried in the body and in fabric, transforming personal and collective stories into visual expression.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Growing up as a child of a teacher, journalist and psychologist shaped how I see the world. From my teacher parent, I learned discipline, structure and the value of education. From the journalist, I inherited curiosity, storytelling and the importance of truth and observation. From the psychologist, I absorbed emotional awareness, empathy, and a deeper understanding of human behavior.
These influences combined to shape my sensitivity to people, memory, and experience. They continue to guide my artistic practice, where I explore identity, emotion and lived stories through photography, performance and visual narratives.
Pricing:
- 850 usd
- 2000 usd
- 500 usd
- 250 usd
- 300 usd
Contact Info:
- Instagram: notie _chiwanga
- Facebook: Nothando chiwas
- LinkedIn: Nothando chiwanga
- Youtube: Nothando chiwanga
