The Arches @ Aberfoyle

The Arches @ Aberfoyle is proud to extend the journey of this exhibition: a selection of the work of Chicago Dzviti (1961–1995), a Zimbabwean photographer whose short life parallels the trajectory and scope of numerous creative and visionary individuals of the era — painters such as Luis Meques and Hilary Kashiri, writers Dambudzo Marechera and Yvonne Vera, and musicians of prominence such as John Chibadura, System Tazvida, and members of The Bhundu Boys: Biggie Tembo, Shakespeare “Shakie” Kangwena, and David Mankaba. It is not the intention to highlight the tragedy of this period, but rather the extraordinary creative impulse visible in the Zimbabwe of this time.

Further, aligning Dzviti within this sphere draws attention to the artistic nature of photography in general, and to Dzviti’s work in particular. His exquisite compositions bring into focus the nature of selection, inclusion, and omission inherent in the process. Dzviti was formally trained as a photojournalist, a title and profession that signifies veracity and the transmission of “truth” — a concept as often vague and multifaceted as it is concrete. Somewhere within the intersection of these dimensions we find a selected view of a time and place: a singular, individual experience of a particular context. We also find the meeting point between artist and subject — sometimes intimate, sometimes personal — moments of visible pathos between each agent, and moments that edge towards the documentary. Dzviti draws attention not to the mechanical processes of the medium, but to the humanity at both ends of the lens.

The works included in this exhibition have been selected by Jennifer Kyker and Fadzai Muchemwa from thousands of possible images — an act which compounds the concepts above. It is yet another window onto the views selected by Dzviti. They have been grouped into seven broad themes identified in the exhibition, in a manner that allows interpretation as well as insight into the facets of the artist’s work. The continued showing of these works provides significant value to Zimbabweans, irrespective of their place of abode. It facilitates consideration of both the past and present in a manner that is both outward-looking and introspective, contributing to the development of intergenerational knowledge and the understanding crucial to the sense of a nation. It reinforces Pierre Bourdieu’s embodied dimension: this collection represents a lived heritage, a shared cultural memory, and contributes to the shaping of a common identity.

We present these photographs as an expression of Zimbabwe’s living cultural capital — a body of work that operates simultaneously as historical document, artistic statement, and site of collective memory. To exhibit them is to endorse not only the legitimacy of Dzviti’s voice, but also to have agency in shaping the visual record of the nation. It is our honour to participate in the discourse of Portrait of Zimbabwe. This is an affirmation that its value lies not only in what it preserves, but in how it continues to inform, challenge, and inspire.

Greg Shaw
(Curator, The Arches @ Aberfoyle)