‘In the Studio with Portia Zvavahera’
2025
The otherworldly beings that populate the prints and paintings of Portia Zvavahera have migrated from her dreams. With their spectral features, inscrutable expressions and often gangly limbs, these spirit creatures range from curious to menacing—and sometimes manage to be both at once. Zvavahera was born in 1985 in Harare, where she still lives and works. Her art is shaped by her Shona heritage: much of the patterning in her work resembles Zimbabwean textile designs and the titles of her exhibitions tend to be in both English and Shona. Some of her imagery is also informed by her Pentecostal upbringing—serpents, for instance, rear up in some of her recent work. ‘Hidden Battles/Hondo dzakavanzika’—which comprises seven works by the artist, three of which are on display for the first time—is at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, until 19 January 2026.
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