Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa: From a Teacher to Being the First Female Head Curator for Contemporary Art of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe

How does one transition from being a teacher to being a curator for contemporary art? It calls for a lot of dedication, determination, and great self-will. Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa is living proof that it is possible. She has grown her career as a curator to the level of the Deputy director and curator of contemporary art at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Her most recent projects include curating the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the the 59th La Biennale di Venezia in 2022.

The big question remains, how has Fadzai managed to build such a great career and rise the ranks? In this episode she will share her career journey, give some insight into her curatorial practice and why she is passionate about art. 

Tune in to learn more about Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa  and on the role of a curator in the 21st century.

Fadzai's Updated Bio

Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa is a researcher, writer and curator currently operating between Harare, Zimbabwe and Makhanda, South Africa. Her research explores notions of care in artistic practice, national archival records, social justice, histories of cities, topographies of knowledge production and sites of transition. She is currently working on two ongoing projects: Harare/Insomnia and The Oxymoronic Tea Party. She was Curator for Education and Public Programming at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe from 2017 to 2020 and Assistant Curator from 2016-2017, where she co-curated Moulding a Nation: The History of the Ceramics Collection of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (2018–2019), Dis(colour)ed Margins (2017), Culture in Communities (2016), and Jazzified: Expressions of Protest (2016). In addition, she curated The Unseen: Creatures of Myth and Legend, an exhibition of artworks by Isaac Kalambata at the Lusaka National Museum in 2018. As visiting curator at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg in 2019, she produced the publication curating Johannesburg: rest.less, under siege/in transition. In 2021 she curated the exhibition If you think about it, just midding in the meantime or Progression for KKNK virtual Gallery, which was nominated for the Kyknet’s Fiesta awards. She recently curated a group show: I did not leave a sign? for Zimbabwe’s National Participation at the 59th La Biennale di Venezia. Muchemwa is a 2017 fellow of the ITP at the British Museum and the Arts of Africa and the Global Souths program at Rhodes University, South Africa. She collaborates for Independent Curators International and is a founding member of the Practice Theory Collective.

To find out more about Fadzai and the Practice Theory Collective on their website or follow her on instagram: @fadzvero

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