Africa and Colonial Legacies

The ifa Gallery Stuttgart presents historically-critical tableaus by African photo artist Kudzanai Chiurai. On show from 1 February until 23 March, 2019.

Kudzanai Chiurai creates large tableaus with remarkable vitality. In them, he explores the history of Africa and its colonial legacies. To this day, African societies, history and politics are shaped by colonialism. This process began with the onset of the early modern age, and was then driven by the political protagonists of the nineteenth century and the Victorian era, who saw geography, trade, settlement policies, and missionary work all in the service of an imperial idea.

In photo series like Genesis [Je n’isi isi], Kudzanai Chiurai addresses African heritage, referring to travel reports and tales by the Scottish missionary and Africa explorer David Livingstone (Blantyre 1813–Chitambo 1873), the first white European to travel through large parts of South Africa and famous for his “discovery” of Victoria Falls. His popularity in the United Kingdom made him an emblematic figure of the explorer paving the way for colonialism. Kudzanai Chiurai’s photographic reenactments present various scenes from Livingstone’s travels, but with new people. The character of the European explorer is confronted with protagonists from African history. In this way Kudzanai Chiurai places his own history alongside the traditional European narrative.

Please find more information at ifa-Galerie Stuttgart