TASHINGA MAJIRI - MAOKO MARANDA AUGUST 2025 | First Floor Gallery Harare

 Tashinga Majiri -- Maoko Maranda Maoko maranda, haana muranda – hands are servants not masters We live in a world captivated by the idea of effortlessness, automation, artificial intelligence, seamless immediate transactions, instant gratification, miracles as a default. In this space a focus on hands, handiwork and physical creation is unequivocally timely and futuristics. It crystalises our attention on things that are only human and truly human and can never be otherwise. And this is exactly what Majiri’s Maoko Maranda achieves. Majiri’s first solo exhibition at First Floor Gallery Harare is a culmination of a journey and a  conversation which began in 2019 about skill, nature, focus on things that are crucial, important and meaningful. For Majiri connection between land and work and his hands is essential and irreducible. It is the lifeblood of his family history and it is the story of Zimbabwe where being human is entirely contiguous with being part of this land, not in an abstract way but as integral to an identity, where holding the soil coming to grips with it as the source of everything is the truth. This journey into the yourself and your sources is not one of exuberant colour but of quiet resignation and commitment, endurance married with dedication and fulfilment. It does not require aggrandisement but demands respect and recognition. A truly worthy and accomplished debut and a statement of claim from an artist who is not going anywhere but up.  Valerie KabovCurator©2025