What does it mean to be Zimbabwean? To be Shona? To be a descendant of proud tribesmen? To be connected to the earth you walk on via your ancestors? To be human even? To feel? These are the questions that come to the fore of the mind when confronted by Nzwisa, a taste of the artistic creativity of Samantha Rumbidzai Vazhure's mind. While only a showcase of the beginnings of her foray into art, Vazhure's debut solo exhibition has a lifetime of stories.
For 9 days in October of 2025, Pamoyo Gallery was a vibrant tapestry of vivid brushstrokes and a storytelling that spoke to wandering mind, driven by a heartfelt curiosity. Across 30 artworks, Samatha Vazhure's wears her heart on her sleeve, opening a kaleidoscopic window to herself and the ever changing understanding she has of love, heartbreak, and her culture and identity as a Zimbabwean. A writer, a poet, and a publisher, art is Vazhure's 4th act.
Nzwisa is centred on the same medium, acrylic on canvas, yet varying painting techniques and modes of visual expression are brought into focus. From underpainting and stippling in technique, representations are a hybrid of realist and impressionist inspirations, with some being closer to the abstract. The exhibition's seeming incongruencies is unified by a rich palette.
'In the embraces of struggle' sees seemingly raindrops of colour coalescing into the image of a couple holding on to each other, while their nature threatens to see them flow right off the canvas. There is a stream of questions of what these two could probably be facing. The painting shows them being of different races and well into middle ages. The struggle that comes into mind is not one just in the moment, but something that has been weathered over the years.
'Munhu Wangu' embeds together shapes and artistic symmetry in to depict yearning and a tender love. It is two halves that complete each other yet not identical. The representation off opposites attract, in bright striking colours.
'Nhare' is a representation of tradition, or rather the indigenous, the path where we came from as Shona people. The mbira dominates the canvas, a showcase of our music, there is jira reretso, a showcase of fabric and beaded bracelets that are both art and fashion. These underlying themes are complimented by artworks like 'Mutiusenezita,' a work that has hues that bring to mind the mythical, yet strongly tied to our reverence of our ancestral lands.
At Pamoyo Gallery, Nzwisa seemed like an act in two parts: The foyer and corridor being one, while the dark room was another. Whether surrendipitous or intentional, the artworks in the dark room had more life in them due to the black background. The colours sprang out, and a picture gallery became more than make shift but perfect for art.
The exhibition's visually consuming moments are filtered by self evident social commentary that seems simple in inspiration but still weighty in reflection.
As an exhibition, Nzwisa goes against the grain of abstraction that has dominated many of Zimbabwean exhibitions in recent times, yet it embraces the current zeitgeist of decolonisation. It pulls in different directions, and tells multiple stories with some feeling incomplete. However it's strongest quality is a seeking of understanding, of roots, of identity, and of love, that's all too relatable.
Rumbidzai Vazhure is a multi award winning author, poet and renowned published. She has been part of several art exhibitions that include:
2025 Artful Prize
Summer Finalists’, Virtual Exhibition
2025 Sokari London Charity
Art Exhibition, London, UK
2024 Artful Prize 2024
Finalists’, Virtual Exhibition
2024 New Black Narrative, Group Exhibition, Royal West of England Academy (RWA), Bristol, UK
2024 Black Listed (For Black History Month), The Island, Bristol, UK