Moffat Takadiwa: Vestiges of Colonialism

Moffat Takadiwa transforms post-consumer waste—used toothbrushes, bottle tops, computer keyboards, and so forth—into lush, densely layered sculptures and tapestry-like wall works that embody the complexities of contemporary Zimbabwean politics, culture, and reference his Korekore heritage.

Takadiwa grew up surrounded by farms and farmers. They represent some of the many colonial systems still present in the country. Powers from both East and West claimed most of the country’s rich and fertile lands, and took advantage of cheap local labor to capitalize commercial crops like tobacco, cotton, and maize. They profited greatly while the local communities suffered.

Takadiwa’s practice is a commentary on his country’s current state of affairs, a critical observance that democracy in Zimbabwe and other African nations with similar histories only survive through the leftovers of colonial dispensation and the crumbs of a traumatic history. To the artist, when economies are patched together from remnants from a sordid, colonial past, it makes it easier to overlook the west’s lasting and overbearing influence over an independent Africa.

Vestiges of Colonialism, his third solo exhibition with Nicodim and his first in Bucharest, confronts what Takadiwa sees as the urgent need to eliminate the remnants of colonialism in Africa and cure the continent from its colonial hangover. The recycled materials that make his artworks symbolize, in part, the transfer of power from Europe and how their waste swallowed the Zimbabwean landscape and handicapped their initial attempts at self-rule. This exhibition marks an effort to repurpose the detritus and the ashes of a sordid past to fertilize a brighter future.

Moffat Takadiwa (b. 1983, Karoi) lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. Part of the post-independence generation of artists in Zimbabwe, Takadiwa has exhibited extensively across major institutions in Zimbabwe as well as internationally. Takadiwa also was a founder of Mbare Art Space in Harare where he plays a part in mentoring the growing artist community. Recent exhibitions include Vestiges of Colonialism, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2024, solo); Feeling Without Touching, Nicodim, New York (2023); Zero Zero, Semiose, Paris (2023, solo); Vestiges of Colonialism, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare (2023, solo); A Love Letter to LA, curated by Storm Ascher, Superposition Gallery, Phillips Auction House, Los Angeles (2023); Africa Supernova, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (2023); Nous sommes tous des lichens, Musée d’art contemporain de la Haute-Vienne – château de Rochechouart (2022); The Bull, Semiose, Paris (2022, solo); Brutalized Language, Nicodim, New York (2022, solo); Witch Craft: Rethinking Power, Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles (2021, solo); This is Not Africa: Unlearn What You Have Learned, ARoS Museum, Denmark (2021); Mr. Foreman you have destroyed the farm, Semiose, Paris, France (2021, solo); INXS: Never Before Seen Major Works by Simphiwe Ndzube, Moffat Takadiwa, Zhou Yilun, Nicodim, Los Angeles, CA (2020); Son of the Soil, Nicodim, Los Angeles, CA (2019, solo); Thread., Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach (2019); Stormy Weather, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, The Netherlands (2019); Second Hand: Selected Works from the Jameel Art Collection, Jameel Arts Centre, Dubai (2019); Material Insanity, Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden, Marrakech (2019); The Eye Sees Not Itself, Nicodim, Los Angeles (2018); and Chinafrika. under construction, Museum for Contemporary Art Leipzig (2017).

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Bucharest

March 28 – June 8, 2024

Press Release

Selected Works