Wallen Mapondera: Manzwi Akazvitakura / Pregnant Words (Space for breeding and expanding commonalities of things to become)

The exhibition Manzwi Akazvitakura/Pregnant Words focuses generally on the returns of ideas that emerged from conversations with others within a group or alone. Reflecting on how we were raised as a family, I have to acknowledge that I am a beneficiary of those ideas. My mother and two of her friends used to make doilies to go and sell them in neighboring countries, such as Mozambique, Botswana, but mostly South Africa. I was young when I noticed how the trio did almost everything together as far as production was concerned. They would go and buy twine for the doilies, then crocheted them together. When I started working on the ‘Madhoiri’ series, I was more interested in the stories, the hustles, and the uncertainty that the trio went through while travelling. The worst that could have happened to them in a foreign land was losing their lives or the money they would have individually worked hard for. None of that happened during the seven-year period that they were doing the doilies business. I then realized that the trio’s journey did not start on the bus or train, but from the moment they set a date for departure. They set targets and deadlines when they had tea/ svutu-gadzike breaks during their crocheting marathons. Most of all, they prayed for guidance and protection (Shield).