Zimbabwean artist Option Dzikamai Nyahunzvi has launched a major solo exhibition titled 'Zvatiri' (Who We Are) at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. The show features a multidisciplinary approach, combining installations, live-art performances, and paintings created with a unique technique of layering and etching Fabriano paper onto canvas. The works heavily reference Shona identity, specifically the 'hunhu' (or ubuntu) belief system and the artist's own Mbizi (zebra) totem, aiming to reconnect contemporary audiences with ancestral wisdom.
The exhibition serves as a significant act of cultural reclamation and decolonization, staged within a gallery space originally established during the British colonial era. By incorporating sacred objects (midziyo) and performing as a spirit medium (mhondoro), Nyahunzvi challenges Western art conventions and asserts the relevance of traditional Shona values in the modern world. The project highlights a growing movement among Southern African artists to prioritize indigenous knowledge systems and the 'ordinary' rituals of daily life over globalized aesthetics.