Admire Kamudzengerere

Admire Kamudzengerere was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, and now lives in Chitungwiza. In 2003 he completed a diploma in Fine Arts from the then Visual Art School (now the National Gallery School of Visual Art and Design) in Harare, thereafter entering an apprenticeship programme at the Gallery Delta Foundation. From 2012 to 2014, Kamudzengerere embarked on a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie (Amsterdam).

Kamudzengerere uses the mediums of performance, video, installation, painting, and printmaking to address the complex structural and socio-cultural issues of his home country.

Through his practice, he is able to challenge preconceptions of identity by responding to personal struggles, such as paternal relationships, masculinity, and ideas of citizenship within the expansive geopolitical landscape. The work, Identity (2012) draws our attention to the performative nature of visa applications and border crossings. As if standing in front of a mirror, Kamudzengerere applies paint to his own face in broad strokes, thus providing an opportunity for us to reflect on constructions of the self in such moments. What makes someone legible to move freely from one place to another; how do these authorising moments impact our everyday freedoms?

Kamudzengerere has exhibited his work across the globe and was selected to appear as part of the Zimbabwean Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale (2017). In 2018 he was selected for the Dak’Art Biennale, curated by Simon Njami. That same year he won the Miart on Demand Prize, bequeathed by Snaporazverein.

Admire Kamudzengerere work is featured in the Zeitz MOCAA exhibition Five Bhobh – Painting at the End of an Era (2018 – 2019).