The title of this exhibition by the Harare-based artist Portia Zvavahera – her first solo show in a public gallery in Europe – is the Shona word for ‘revelations’: a nod to both Zvavahera’s Christian heritage and her belief in the power of dreams to reveal dark truths and parallel realms. Drawing on the spiritual customs she encountered as a child in Zimbabwe, Zvavahera makes both paintings and prints: her vivid brushstrokes and haunted figures might be the first things you notice, but when combined with some of the repetitive patterns brought about by the printing, some of her works take on the quality of a nightmare. Amid the grimness, there is warmth to be found: in Labour Ward (2021), childbirth seems a collective effort, while in other works angelic forms are visible. This show in Cambridge presents works made over the course of 12 years and demonstrates Zvavahera’s imaginative use of materials: wax, cardboard and printer’s ink are marshalled in the service of a vision that is often as clear-sighted as it is disturbing (22 October–16 February 2025).
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This is Where I Travelled (4) (2020), Portia Zvavahera. Courtesy Tate Images; © the artist
Labour Ward (2012), Portia Zvavahera. Courtesy Stevenson and David Zwirner; © the artist
Embraced and Protected in You (2016), Portia Zvavahera. Photo: Mario Todeschini; courtesy Stevenson and David Zwirner; © the artist
Fighting Energies 2 (2024), Portia Zvavahera. Photo: Jack Hems; courtesy Stevenson and David Zwirner; © the artist