This series is a revisit of my Visionaries series from 2014-2015, when I looked at the contemporary Zimbabwean urban women and the idea of social and cultural ambition in the context of identity and aspiration. Visionaries 2019 is a series developed out of the research around women in various urban centres in Africa from Lagos, to Durban, to Dakar, Johannesburg and Harare. These are proto-portraits – they are idea driven depictions not of individuals but of the idea of a woman based on what women do, how women are perceived socially, what are the expectation from them and how that impacts on how they present themselves. These works are made on unstretched canvases and incorporate a complex combination of images and techniques, which work together to build the narrative of each piece. There is stitching, collage, card-print, painting, ink pouring and drawing building images which enable the viewer to zoom in on elements of choice and create a conversation about priorities in image-making both in art and in life.
