Born and raised in Makhanda/eRhini, Viwe Madinda is an emerging artist currently moulding and exploring her craft at Rhodes University studying towards a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree, fourth year: Honours. She engages sci-fi fiction and avant garde methods to narrate her interest and experience in dreams and folklore, which guides her research in indigenous epistemologies and creative practices. Viwe has a background in printmaking and is also skilled in painting, photography, sculpture and installation, and her evolving body of work is immersed in a realm of afro-futurism, dreams, spirituality and folklore where she implements symbolism via performance and performative gestures.

Viwe aims that her research on indigenous knowledge will not just be a contribution to decolonial studies but also propose routes that move beyond just critiquing and writing. Her creative practice conveys themes on cultural and creative practices to express African spirituality and culture which she believes is principal to identity, and incorporates references from perspectives by Black South African authors, scholars and creatives that inspire her work, namely: Samuel Edward Krune Mqhayi, Willian Wellington Gqoba and Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa to name a few.   

In 2018 Viwe partook in a number of creative activities such as the Rhodes Student exhibition during the National Arts festival, she was also selected to perform at the launch exhibition for the African Feminisms conference which was a responses to the The Mute Always Speak: (Re) imagining and re-imaging feminist futures by Dr Nthabiseng Motsemme’s, curated by Sharlene Khan and Zodwa Skeyi-Tutani. She was also part of a collective of 3^rd year Fine Art students that collaborated and curated the Caterpillar exhibition at Rhodes, which referenced each student’s visual portfolio and journey as emerging artists. She has also worked for the National Arts Festival as a gallery assistant (2016-2018), and is now part of the NRF/DST SARChI Chair Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa, Arts of Africa and Global Souths research programme (2019).

Last Modified: Tue, 19 May 2020 10:42:16 SAST