Robert Machiri

Born in 1978 Rob Machiri was raised in Zimbabwe. He obtained a diploma in Fine Arts from Harare Polytechnic College at the age of 22. He has been living and working in Johannesburg since 2002 and has held collective and solo exhibitions in Johannesburg and Harare since 1997, including at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

An emerging artist uprooted from his home environment, Machiri analyses, against the background of crippling social ills in a pan-African context, the sense of alienation felt in confronting his own survival in a big city, as well as the rewards and challenges in exploring a diversity of cultures.

Fundamental to the structure of his work is the sense of invention and creativeness inherited from his childhood days in the townships, where games, toys and artifacts – from plastic balls, wire cars or trap cages to items as complicated as transistor radios - were conjured up from found pieces and objects.

Selected exhibitions: Past, present and future, National Gallery of Zimbabwe (1997); Maonero angu (Double Vision), Matuopo Gallery, Harare (1998); Annual National Heritage, Zimbabwe National Gallery (1999); Annual Young Artist Exhibition, Delta Gallery, Harare (1999 – 2001); Robert Machiri, Innerspace Gallery, Johannesburg (2003); Four seasons, Roslyn Gallery, Johannesburg (2006).

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