Kudzanai Chiurai
1981– · Zimbabwean artist (painter, photographer, poet and activist) based in South Africa
Kudzanai Chiurai (born 1981 in Salisbury, now Harare) is a Zimbabwean artist who has lived and worked for many years in South Africa. Trained as a painter, he combines painting, drawing, video and photography to address social, political and cultural issues in Zimbabwe. He belongs to the "born free" generation, born a year after the country's independence, and became the first Black student to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Fine Art from the University of Pretoria.
He began by painting landscapes and portraits, but after moving to South Africa he became interested in art as a form of activism. In 2004 he went into self-imposed exile after receiving arrest threats over the works Rau Rau and The Battle of Zimbabwe, which portrayed Robert Mugabe as a demonic figure ahead of the 2008 elections. His work often uses masculinity and power as a framework for exploring South Africa's political ambiguity. His first solo exhibition took place in London in 2003, and his works have been shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and documenta in Kassel.