Wallen Mapondera

Born in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe. 

Lives and works in Grahamstown, South Africa.

Mapondera is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates work through painting, drawing, sculpture and installation. He is best known for his complex wall sculptures which create richly tessellated abstract surfaces out of cardboard and textiles. These works challenge the linearity of time and history, transfiguring ordinary materials into textured visual puzzles. The artist also paints surreal, unnerving dreamscapes, combining animals with domestic objects, using the deep-rooted cultural psychology of the human-animal relationship to evoke social and political themes of power, domination, hierarchies and corruption.

In 2022, Wallen Mapondera represented Zimbabwe at the 59th Venice Biennale. Entitled "I Did Not Leave a Sign?", the Zimbabwean Pavilion exhibition was curated by Fadzai Veronica Muchemwa and featured works by Kresiah Mukwazhi, Terrence Musekiwa, Ronald Muchatuta and Wallen Mapondera.