Portia Zvavahera

(b. 1985, Juru, Zimbabwe; lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe)

In One Accord, 2018
Oil-based printing ink and oil bar on canvas, 206 x 213 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town and Johannesburg

The huge canvases by Zimbabwean artist Portia Zvavahera are a reminder of eclectic early expressionism, with its characteristic quoting of sacred images that belong to other eras and geographies. Her new series of paintings, which includes In One Accord, was created during a recent residency in Bangalore. The name of the painting is from the Bible (“At the onset of the day of Pentecost, they were in one accord,” Acts 2:1). This passage describes the moment when the Holy Spirit came to the Apostles. Through the emergence of “separating flame-like tongues,” Christ’s disciples were gifted the ability to speak any language of the world in order to bear the Word of God. This artwork does not feature tongues in the sense of “language.” Instead, it collides and interprets two mythological systems, from India and Zimbabwe. In India, cows are sacred: they personify the goddess Bhūmi, who gives life and happiness. In Zimbabwe, any animal that appears in a dream is interpreted as an evil spirit trying to break through to real life. Zvavahera usually transfers images from nightmares onto her canvas, but in the case of In One Accord she finds a balance between the supernatural role of a single animal in very different cultures. Textiles and ornament are structural elements of her paintings, allowing the eye to fix on the rhythmic basis of the composition. However, they also conceal the painful details of the dream and divide up images that are too threatening or tragic in order to prevent their direct impact on the viewer.