Virginia Chihota represented Zimbabwe in the Venice Biennial of last year.
Your darkness has found light, 2012.
About:
Virginia Chihota, born in 1983 in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe, currently lives and works in Tripoli, Libya, where she moved in 2012. In her practice, Virginia uses drawing, printing and silkscreen printing to explore themes of relationship such as isolation, human consciousness and cultural dislocation. Her recent work, informed by the isolation and cultural displacement she is experiencing whilst living in Libya, is introspective and exudes a quiet intensity that powerfully engages the viewer. She exhibits an unusual gift for placement and composition of her human forms – in foreshortened poses and gestures that infuse presence to her work.
In her words, “my work is an expression of a personal response towards relationships, a world of boundless desires yet we always encounter limits. Everyone is a relative and also everyone is relative … I see the essential need to go into our relationships and research on were we have gone wrong, the dark yet true side of life to find answers to our way forward if we allow ourselves. It is in my work that I have all the space and freedom to compliment, ask questions, give suggestions, ask for forgiveness …”. Virginia was one of the artists chosen to represent Zimbabwe at the 2013 Venice Biennale, and has recently won the Prix Canson in Paris.
From a background I say peace….., 2013.
Isolation.
To the printmaker Rembrandt.
Chokwa dindiri here, 2012.
Chihota is represented by Tiwani Contemporary, London.