To mark the opening of the exhibition Kuzviramba Mamuri, join us for a conversation between artist Portia Zvavahera and curator Sofia Dati. Together, they will discuss how they navigated the artist's wide-ranging body of work while working on Zvavahera's exhibition at WIELS.
Portia Zvavahera in her studio, 2023
Photography by Gianluigi Guercia
© Portia Zvavahera
Courtesy Stevenson and David Zwirner
Portia Zvavahera (b.1985, Harare, Zimbabwe) studied at the BAT Visual Art Studios under the auspices of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe from 2003 to 2004, then graduated in Visual Arts at the Harare Polytechnic in 2006 and is currently living and working in Harare.
She has had various solo exhibitions in institutions including Norval Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa (2026); Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2025); ICA Boston (2025); Fondation Louis Vuitton, France (2024); Kettle’s Yard, University of Cambridge, UK (2024) and Fruitmarket, Edinburgh, UK (2025). Earlier solo exhibitions took place at Stevenson Cape Town and Johannesburg (2014–23); David Zwirner, London, New York and Los Angeles (2020–25); the Institute of Contemporary Art Indian Ocean (ICAIO), Port Louis, Mauritius (2020); and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (2010).
In 2013, she presented her work in the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, and her work was also included in the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022. Her work has travelled to Belgium in the frame of the group exhibition “Odyssées Africaines” (Brass, Brussels, 2015) and at De 11 Lijnen (Oudenburg, 2015 & 2019).
Her work is held in major international collections including Johannesburg Art Gallery; Minneapolis Institute of Art; National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare; Pérez Art Museum Miami; Tate, United Kingdom; University of Chicago Booth School of Business; Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; and Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Cape Town.
Portia Zvavahera is represented by David Zwirner, New York, Los Angeles, London, Paris, Hong Kong; and Stevenson, Cape Town, Amsterdam.
Sofia Dati is curator at WIELS.
