Artists tell stories in printmaking exhibition

Twenty-one artists are taking part this year at Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions' DAI 2015 Month of Printmaking exhibition entitled "Our Stories – Ex Libris".

DAI director Chikonzero Chazunguza said most of the pieces carry common narratives about issues that people can relate to.

"This year marks our seventh year since we established our 'DAI Month of Printmaking'. As such we wanted this year's event to be more meaningful especially to our local communities by giving a theme which translates to 'library extracts'.

"We wanted to inspire artists to dig into our stories both popular and personal to come up with imagery that iconises stories and legends which carry the common narratives that the majority of the people could relate to," said Chazunguza.

The miniature print exhibition whose works are fully charged by popular and personal stories features works by well-known artists like Munya Mazarire and Chazunguza and promising artists like Franklin Dzingai and Mavis Tauzeni.

With a boost from other parts of the country like Mutare and Bulawayo the total number of prints on show are well over 50, characterised by various methods of printmaking that include screen-prints, lino-cuts, drypoints, collographs and cardboard-print, all of them in miniature format of 10x10centimeters.

The show, which opened on May 15 at Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions – an arts and culture resource centre -ends on June 15 with the closing ceremony coming up on June 13 at the same venue which lies 23 kilometres from Harare along the Harare-Bulawayo highway.

The closing ceremony will be officiated by Chazunguza, Gareth Nyandoro and Masimba Hwati, the three artists who are representing Zimbabwe at the 2015 Venice Biennale in Italy.

Dzimbanhete Arts Interactions objectives include, among others, to bridge the gap between oral and visual storytellers, to nurture and mentor creative talent towards directions that are more meaningful to the nation, by creating platforms where art is consciously informed, thereby bringing in relevance into the subject matter, to encourage the art of printmaking, by once again celebrating the month of printmaking and creating platforms for its exploration.