2014
Writers exchange at Public Pool (Hamtramck, MI, USA) & Njelele Art Station (Harare, Zimbabwe)
Curated by Zimbabwe Cultural Centre of Detroit (ZCCD): Chido Johnson (CCS Professor and Kresge Fellow), Nontsikelelo Mutiti (Purchase College and NY artist) who are both from Zimbabwe, and Kumbulani Zamuchiya (Documentary film-maker) who lives in Zimbabwe. Co curators are Elizabeth Muusha for “i wish you where here” who is the Director of the National Gallery of Mutare, Masimba Hwati for “exchange exchange” who is an artist and a lecturer of art at Harare Polytechnic College in Zimbabwe, as well as Tawanda Mudzonga and Steve Hughes for the writers exchange.
We’ve glimpsed the other side of the globe and it looks a lot like us. Yes, an opening has formed and there’s no turning back. The new Zimbabwe Cultural Centre of Detroit (ZCCD) created a bedroom portal through a replica bedroom at the Detroit Cultural Centre of Zimbabwe, and artists have been crawling through via Skype and other digital means since early August in the largest cultural exchange ever – at least until someone tells us otherwise.
What each has found are comrades in art, responding to circumstances that are across continents, but feel like home: A struggling economy, a population exodus, huge swatches of blight and abandonment, a re-imagining of what’s possible – all in the middle of an exploding art scene and cultural revolution.-ZCCD
Kumusha is the Shona word for “home”.
