The following images are of a series of paintings made in 2015 by artist Gareth Nyandoro (b. 1982, Zimbabwe). The works as they appear in these images were included in the Zimbabwe Pavillion for the recent 56th Venice Biennial as part of the exhibition titled Pixels of Ubuntu/Unhu: Exploring the social and cultural identities of the twenty-first century, curated by Raphael Chikukwa and Tafadzwa Gwetai.

“The large-scale works on paper by Gareth Nyandoro addresses side effects of sprawling urbanisation. They show scenes of street life smarts and crowded public places. The unfinished rendering carries a sense of urgency. Abstract groups of people float on a white background. The lack of contextual detail leaves it to the viewer to draft the surroundings and imagine stories of urban alienation and displacement.”—Via Intense Art Magazine

“Gareth Nyandoro combines images of vendors with found materials which he processes by employing idiosyncratic variations on traditional craft techniques. He weaves with paper. Nyandoro produces prints by cutting directly into the paper, sponging ink onto it and finally removing the top layer of paper with tape so the ink is only left behind in the cuts. A technique he calls “KUCHEKACHEKA”. He attempts to simulate the market environment by combining two-dimensional collages with three-dimensional objects. The fragile, ephemeral quality of his work references the temporary nature of the marketplace.” —Via Biennial Foundation

Gareth Nyandoro was born in 1982 in Bikita, Zimbabwe and currently lives and works between Harare and Amsterdam. He studied Fine Art at the Harare Polytechnic College, obtaining his National Diploma in 2003. He furthered his studies in Creative Art and Design at the Chinhoyi University of Technology, Zimbabwe, qualifying in 2008. He is currently a resident artist at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam.

All other photos by Cranium Corporation, 2015