From 8 November, Kunsthal Rotterdam presents They have always been here, the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands by Zimbabwean artist Kudzanai-Violet Hwami (b. 1993). Specially for this occasion, Hwami is creating new work, including layered paintings, digitally reworked photographs, and her very first bronze sculptures. With rich, saturated colours, personal photographs and archival material, she draws attention to people who have often been rendered invisible in history – in particular queer people of colour within the African diaspora.
Hwami grew up in Zimbabwe and South Africa and now lives and works in the United Kingdom. Her journey across countries and cultures runs as a thread throughout her work. She herself speaks of a “conflicting love of land and inheritance”: a country of origin that can feel like home, filled with colour, scent, and memory, but at the same time evoking distance and estrangement. Heritage can connect, yet also create tension when traditions clash with personal freedom and self-discovery.
Layered and full of contrasts
In her paintings – using oil and acrylic paint, printmaking, pastel, pencil and charcoal – intimate and political themes come together. She draws inspiration from family albums, vintage magazines, and archival material. For Kunsthal Rotterdam she is also presenting two bronze sculptures, her first step into three-dimensional work.
The exhibition further includes large-scale photographs taken during a journey to Zimbabwe. Digitally expanded and reworked, these images imagine what might lie beyond the frame. Ghostly scenes appear in which faces blur, vanish or distort – like memories that slip away and can never be fully grasped.
By reworking images and adding fragments, Hwami dissolves the boundary between fact and fiction. Her work shows how identity is never fixed, but continuously remembered and retold.
About the artist
Kudzanai-Violet Hwami had her international breakthrough in 2019 as the youngest participant in the Zimbabwean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Three years later she returned to the Biennale, which that year was titled The Milk of Dreams. Since then, her work has been shown at leading venues including Kunsthaus Pasquart (Biel), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Hayward Gallery (London), Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, and Sonsbeek 20–24 (Arnhem). Today, Hwami is recognised as one of the most compelling voices of her generation.
The exhibition has been realised in close collaboration with the artist and Victoria Miro, London.
