The Tate Modern, one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the world, this week unveiled gadzi, an original installation by multi award winning Zimbabwean artist nora chipaumire.
chipaumire is the recipient of the Infinities Commission 2026, a free to attend annual commission showcasing the limitless experimentation of contemporary art.
The new work draws inspiration from the legends, stones and spiritual tales of Zimbabwe. It centres sculptures of balancing rocks, constructed entirely by hand, using materials such as wood, wire and cardboard, giving new meaning to everyday materials.
As the artist describes it, "gadzi (shortened from gadziguru) is the oldest female being and a creative force tied to the legends of Shona people. She is connected to sacred places in our country: Domboramwari, Great Zimbabwe, Matopos and Domboshava. gadzi is a manifestation of everlasting and haunting resilience beyond colonial concepts."
Considered the mother of god, who gave birth to the magnificent balancing rocks, the figure of gadzi is perched on the top of it all, seemingly reflecting on the works she created.
The installation is multi-sensory in nature, bringing together sculpture, sound, and moving image. The sounds of chimurenga are broadcast through "mountains of speaking wood" and interact with the deep bass of dub sound systems. The speakers emulate "how god was heard through the rocks of Zimbabwe."
On select dates in June, gadzi will be activated by live performances in which chipaumire is joined by 14 performers and artists to lead a procession of movement and sound through the gallery, blending a confluence of guitars, saxophone and electronic sounds with traditional instruments of the Shona people: hoshos, mbiras and ngomas.
nora chipaumire makes work and creates ideas that straddle multiple imaginaries — African, black, woman. A life lived through aesthetics informed by refusal, defiance, negotiation, contradictions and more. These refusals take form of movement, objects, non objects, manifestos, sound and building a pedagogical practice (nhaka) that works the present now with the present past.
gadzi will be on display at the Tate Modern until 23 August.