
This work celebrates the 20th anniversary of the demise of the Berlin Wall an act now seen as a triumph of humanity. Extending beyond this, it calls for the removal of the walls created in Zimbabwe that exist physically and psychologically, by means of coercion, propaganda and indoctrination. Walls constructed to safeguard the values and interests of few, systems of protection, of division, containment and destruction.
This work recognizes the need for genuine unity, not in the farcical manacling together of incongruous factions, but in the demand for the rights promised to each member of humanity. In acknowledgement of the “peaceful revolution” that led to the demise of the Berlin Wall, it recognizes the efforts of those who have acted in these interests and continue to do so. It celebrates the achievements made so far, no matter how large or small. Ultimately, it recognizes the fact that only a common goal and unified effort will dislodge the barriers that remain in this land.
It enters dialogue between the removal of the Berlin Wall but cannot be separated from the context in which this exhibition is held. It is therefore a comment as much about Zimbabwe as it is Germany. We cannot see this work but through Zimbabwean eyes, tinted by the events that have occurred not only in recent decades, but cognizant of barriers erected over more than a century.
This work is not the wall, nor a depiction of it, but its removal. In this regard it is not the aesthetic value that is paramount, nor is there any material value inherent in the work other than the materials of which it is constructed. Rather it is the process in which the meaning resides, momentary and transient. The fragments remain, and are invested with new meaning as the context in which they exist transforms. No longer part of an object that divides and contains, but symbols of the unified process.
The work is the removal of an obstacle, literally and symbolically a democratic act.
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