Anne Zanele Mutema (b. 1988) is a conceptual installation artist who is preoccupied with ideas of space, memory and phenomenology. Having graduated from National Gallery Visual Art Studio in 2010, while concurrently studying cinematography at the Zimbabwe Institute of Photography and Cinematography in 2009, Mutema spent a number of years trying to find a bridge between visual art, material practice and her interest in time-based media. Through experimentation, she arrived at a unique installation approach. Creating immersive installation, she develops a dialogue between the audience and objects, focused on the idea of an Event, defined as a phenomenon located at a single point in time. Searching to create, capture and recreate Events in the context of self, culture and history is a process, project and quest for Mutema. Mutema’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, achieving awards and selected for participation in international festivals. After taking time out to build a family, Mutema makes an important and ground-breaking return to practice.
Solo exhibitions include Soft Equinoctial, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe (2023) and Ranezuro Rangu Ngariziye, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe (2022).
Group exhibitions include Investec Cape Town Art Fair, First Floor Gallery Harare, Cape Town, South Africa (2024); Paper Weight, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe (2023); Artissima, First Floor Gallery Harare, Turin, Italy (2022); FNB Art Joburg, First Floor Gallery Harare, Johannesburg, South Africa (2022); Toronto Biennial of Art, Toronto, Canada (2022); Vacancy: Zanele Mutema/ Miriro Mwandiambria (duo exhibition), First Floor Gallery Vic Falls, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (2021); Level – Mosi-oa-tunya, First Floor Gallery Vic Falls, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (2020); RE: Zacharaha Magasa/ Zanele Mutema (duo exhibition), First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe (2020); Uncharted Territories – Voices in Colour, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (2014); Harare International Festival of the Arts, No Limits exhibition, Harare, Zimbabwe (2014); RAVY Festival, Galerie d’Art Contemporain, Cameroon (2014); Woman at the Top, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe (2014); Afiriperforma Biennale, Harare, Zimbabwe (2013) and In Black and White, First Floor Gallery Harare, Harare, Zimbabwe (2013).