Zimbabwe to host Afro-Sino art exhibition

Zimbabwe through the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) will host the Belt and Road Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange programme on 27^th April – 1^st May 2019. The Exchange incorporates an Arts Exhibition, Art Forum and launch of the SADC Chapter of the Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange Association.

The first Afro-Sino exhibition held in Beijing

The Art Exhibition has a total number of 120 artworks from China, Kenya, Seychelles, Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe making it the largest exhibition in Zimbabwe in recent time. The exhibition theme is South Meeting the East: A Tale of Two Communities creating an opportunity for the artists from both the South and the East to network, interrogate parallels in working processes and strategies from yesterday and today.

The concept of Belt and Road exchange programme is an initiative by the Chinese Government in a bid to enhance world connectivity whilst embracing business cooperation. Therefore, Belt & Road Afro-Sino Art Exhibition is a brainchild of the Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange Association headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Zimbabwe through the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe last year in China won a bid to host this prestigious exhibition.

Activities lined up include tour of Chitungwiza Art Centre, Dominic Benhura Studios, National Gallery Art and Design School and launch of the Arts Exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe followed by an auction the following day. In addition, there will be a launch of SADC Afro-Sino Arts Exchange Association, and an Art Forum at a local hotel.

NACZ organised this arts promotion and development exhibition in partnership with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Afro-Sino Cultural Exchange Association, Embassy of China, Jacaranda Culture and Media Corporation and Zimbabwe Chinese Business Association.

Last year in June a Chinese delegation visited Zimbabwe and in a meeting with National Arts Council of Zimbabwe an agreement was done to include Zimbabwe in the first Belt and Road exhibition that was held in China and attended by the Director Mr Nicholas Moyo. The opportunity was then utilised to market local Art internationally and artworks for visual artists who included Calvin Chimutuwah, Mercy Moyo, Petros Kaseke, Chrispine Mutsadyanga, Munya Mungate and Mavis Tauzen were exhibited at the Belt and Road exhibition in Beijing.