Atom Painting #4

Kudzanai-Violet Hwami’s paintings are very often composite and multi-dimensional. The images fragment into self-portraits, portraits of loved ones, apparitions of animals, as realist or as free paintings, as photographs, and as collages. 

The series Atom Paintings consists of four canvases that are each divided into four spaces, each one of which in turn houses multiple realities. Our gaze, drawn into the centre, never ceases to run from one part to the other, without ever being able to settle on any one thing. Through this, the artist questions the stasis and unique nature of identity, and the role that artistic representation has played in the objectification of female, black, and queer bodies. Kudzanai-Violet Hwami thus represents the infinite possibilities of being, as well as reflecting on life in Zimbabwe today.