Biography
Kudzanai Chiurai is an internationally acclaimed young artist born in Zimbabwe. He was the first black student to graduate with a BA Fine Art from the University of Pretoria. Born one year after Zimbawe’s emergence from white-ruled Rhodesia – Chiurai’s early work focused on the political, economic and social strife in his homeland. Chiurai has held numerous solo exhibitions since 2003 and has participated in various local and international exhibitions, including Figures & Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which acquired Chiurai’s work for their collection. His Conflict Resolution series was included in dOCUMENTA (13) in Kassel in 2012. His film Iyeza was one of the few African films to be included in the New Frontier shorts programme at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013. Chiurai has held numerous solo exhibitions with the Goodman Gallery and has edited three publications with contributions by leading African creatives.
Solo Exhibitions
2015
Kudzanai Chiurai: Iyeza, RISD Museum, Rhode Island, USA
Selections from Revelations, MoCADA, New York, USA
REVELAÇÕES, Kulungwana Gallery, Maputo, Mozambique
2014 – 2015
Defining the State of the Nation, Zeitz MOCAA Pavillion, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town
2014
This is not Africa, this is Us, Part I: Kunstahal Rotterdam, Netherlands
2013
Front Page , Mallorca Landings, Spain
2012
The Harvest of Thorns , The Assylem Atelje, Johannesburg, South Africa
2011
State of the Nation , Goodman Gallery project space, Arts on Main, Johannesburg, South Africa
2010
Communists and hot chicken wings: the birth of a new nation , Goodman Gallery project space, Arts on
Main, Johannesburg, South Africa
2009
Dying To Be Men , Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2008
Yellow Lines , Obert Contemporary, Johannesburg
2007
Graceland Obert Contemporary, Johannesburg
2005
Y Propaganda , Obert Contemporary, Johannesburg
2004
Correction: The Revolution Will Be Televised , Obert Contemporary, Johannesburg
2003
The revolution will not be televised , Brixton Art Gallery, London, UK
Group Exhibitions
2016
In Context: Where We Are, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Sleight of Hand. Zuckerberg Museum of Art, Kennesaw, USA
LagosPhoto, International Festival. Lagos, Nigeria
Tear my Bra, Rencontres de la Photographie, Arles, France
New Revolutions: Goodman Gallery at 50 , Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
Kabbo Ka Muwala: Migration and Mobillity in Contemporary Art in Southern and Eastern Africa, National
Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe
Kabbo Ka Muwala: Migration and Mobillity in Contemporary Art in Southern and Eastern Africa, Makerere
Art Gallery, Kampala, Uganda
Kabbo Ka Muwala: Migration and Mobillity in Contemporary Art in Southern and Eastern Africa,
Städtische Galerie, Bremen, Germany
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona,
Barcelona, Spain
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
2015
Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein, Germany
What remains is tomorrow, South African Pavilion at the 56th La Biennale di Venizia, Venice, Italy
Dis/Place, MoCADA, New York, USA
The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory Revisited by Contemporary African Artists, SCAD Museum of
Art, Savannah, USA
2014
Nevralgies, Galarie Maia Muller, Paris, France
Daegue Biennale, Daegue, South Korea
Arles Discovery Award Exhibition, Arles, France
Surfacing, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
This is not Africa, this is Us, Part II: Art Rotterdam, Netherlands
This is not Africa, this is Us, Part III: West den Haag, Netherlands
The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Hell, Purgatory Revisited by Contemporary African Artists, MMK Museum für
Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt, Germany
Staging Reality, Lagos Photo Festival, Nigeria
Vision of Africa, Addis Photo festival, Ethiopia
Luminós/C/ity.Ordinary Joy: From the Pigozzi Contemporary African Art Collection, Ethelbert Cooper
Gallery, Cambridge, UK
2013 – 2015
Distance and Desire: Encounters with the African Archive, Walther Collection, Ulm, Germany
2013 – 2014
Pop Goes the Revolution, New Church, Cape Town, South Africa
2013
LagosPhoto 2013: The Megacity and the Non-City , Art21, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
My Joburg, La Maison Rouge, Paris, France
!Kauru, Pretoria Art Museum, Pretoria, South Africa
eMerging: Visual Art and Music in a Post-Hip-Hop Era, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts,
(MoCADA), New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA
Making Way: Contemporary Art from South Africa and China, Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg,
South Africa
New Frontier, Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah, USA
The Beautyful Ones, Nolan Judin Gallery, Berlin, Germany
2012
Video Artprojx, Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami, USA
dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany
2011
Figures & Fictions: Contemporary South African Photography , Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
über(W)unden – Art in troubled times, Goethe- Institut, Johannesburg, South Africa
Impressions from South Africa , 1965 to Now, Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York, USA
Contemporary African Art, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland
Impressions from South Africa, 1965 to Now, MoMA, New York, USA
2010
Cairo Biennale, Cairo, Egypt
Its greener on the other side, Co-op, Johannesburg, South Africa
In other words, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Photo Ireland festival, Dublin, Ireland
SPace, Museum Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
For those that live in it, MU, Netherlands
2009
ParisPhoto Exhibition, Paris, France
Us, Johannesburg Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Armory Show, Goodman Gallery, New York, USA
Joburg Art Fair, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Nation State, Goodman Gallery Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa
2008
Melbourne Stencil Festival, Melbourne, Australia
Africa Now, Round Tower, Copenhagen, Denmark
Africa Now, Northern Norway Art Centre, Lofoten, Norway
Africa Now, Tampere Art Museum, Finland
2006
Dak’art, Dakar, Senegal
New Painting, KZNSA, Durban, South Africa
2005
Melrose Art, Obert Contemporary, Johannesburg, South Africa
Reconciliation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Awards and Merits
*2014*
_Shortlisted for Future generation Art Prize
2012
FNB Art Prize
2011
Top 200 Young South Africans, Mail & Guardian
2005
Top 100 Dazzlers and Doers in South Africa, Mail & Guardian, South Africa
Academic Record and Residencies
BAFA, University of Pretoria, 2006
Collections
BHP Billiton, London, UK
Click Media, Johannesburg, SA
Danjuma Collection, UK
Iziko South African National Gallery, Cape Town, SA
MoMA, New York, USA
Nandos, London, UK
Patrice Motsepe, Johannesburg, SA
Pigozzi Collection, FRA
Sindika Dokolo Collection, ANG
The New Church Museum, Cape Town, SA
Tiroche Deleon Collection
UNISA Art Gallery, Pretoria, SA
Walther Collection, New York, USA
Zeitz MoCAA Collection, Cape Town, SA
Selected Articles and Reviews
2013
Tim Leibbrandt, Harvest of Thorns Art South Africa, South Africa
Simphiwe Mpye, GQ & A With Kudzanai Chiura, GQ Magazine, South Africa
Katherine Jacobs, Dying to be Men, Artthrob, South Africa
Laurice Taitz, Kudzanai Chiurai Considers the Nature of Violence, Mail & Guardian, Johannesburg
2012
Charl Blignaut, Jesus is a black woman, City Press, 9 December
Nkepile Mabuse, Kudzanai Chiurai: The artist who stood up to Mugabe, CNN online, July 12
2010
Camilla Peus, Schwartz, Weiss, Und, Alle Farben Art Magazine, June
Jana Du Plessis, Kudzanai Chiurai on the Black President, One Small Seed, June
2011
Percy Zvomuya, Pathology of Power Mail & Guardian, November 11 – 17
Sean O’Toole, Starkest Africa, Sunday Times Lifestyle, 16 October
2010
Percy Zvomuya, Sense of time and Space , Mail & Guardian, May 14
2008
Bongani Madondo, He ain’t yellow, Sunday Times Lifestyle, 26 October
2007
Review by Catherine Green, Art South Africa, Vol. 06, Issue 02, Summer
Review by Anthea Buys, Mail & Guardian, 31 August
Paranoia Comes Up Against Acclaim, Business Day, 1 June
Fred de Vries, “Urban Guerilla Of Afro Pop Art” The Weekender, 3 February
2005
Kwanele Sosibo, Aluta Continua, Art South Africa, Vol. 04, Issue 02, Summer
Rebecca Kahn Propagandist, SL Magazine, June
Charcoal Revolution, Mail & Guardian, 20 May
Bongani Madondo, Pop Goes The Easel, Sunday Times, 01 May
2004
Review by Thuthu Lesuthu, Art South Africa, Vol. 03, Issue 01, Spring
Robyn Sassen, Calling a spade a spade: youth, audacity and bravery in the work of Zim painter
Kudzanai Chiurai, ARTTHROB, August
Child of the Zimbabwean Revolution, This Day, August 3,
Bunmi Akpata-Ohohe Doing it his own way , Africa Today, May
Publications
2012 Lodi Matsetela (ed) Lines Volume 3. STATE OF THE NATION, Goodman Gallery
2011 Lien Heidenreich-Seleme & Sean O’Toole (eds), über(w)unden: Art in Troubled Times, Jacana Media
2011 Peter Anders and Matthew Krouse (eds), Positions: Contemporary South African Artists, Jacana Media
2010 Mbali Soga (ed), Lines Volume 2. THE BLACK PRESIDENT, Goodman Gallery
2009 Lauren Cornell, Massimiliano Gioni, and Laura Hoptman (eds), Younger Than Jesus: The Reader, New
Museum and Steidl
2008 Lines Volume 1. YELLOW LINES
