A Conversation With Natasha Kudita: Talking Fine Art and the Zimbabwean Art Space
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Loading... - Osman Said
- 26 Jan 2023
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The first time, well the only time rather, that I got to experience Natasha Kudita's work was back in July last year at Pikicha Gallery's public opening. It was the Roots & Routes exhibit. A tale of two sisters. A beautiful display of fine art and photography was visual storytelling at its very best. A reimagined journey into the past & present that felt thought-provoking in terms of the possibilities. I had often been a skeptic when it came to digital art but this Saturday Natasha Kudita made me a believer.
It was her first exhibition in Harare and Zimbabwe as a whole. Then her work had mainly been on display in Pretoria. The Roots & Routes exhibit was also the debut of her piece titled Musika. An artwork she sets apart as one of the defining pieces so far in her young career and it was an instant favourite on the occasion. Among the few other artworks that she holds in high regard, there's also Upenyu and Mai mwana. The former being a piece she found extremely therapeutic to create and it was one she dedicated to raising awareness about GBV (Gender Based Violence).
Kudita has specialized in the mediums of digital illustration and abstract painting. She describes her journey into art as beginning in high school and culminating in her studying fine art at university.
In high school I was always a creative kid, I leaned more towards subjects like English Literature, English Language, and Art & Design. But whilst I was doing art at A level, I wanted to expand my mind in terms of what art is and understanding the history of art and what art can be in the present because we were mostly limited to drawing still live objects like shoes and sort of observational drawing and I wanted to venture into conceptual art. So that's how I got started, that was like the bridge between high school and studying art in uni.
She also stated that there was a big adjustment in terms of what was expected of her when she started studying toward a professional degree. They were a lot of demands but in terms of the overall experience, she really enjoyed it because there was always something new to learn. The fine arts program offers up a variety of things like sculpture, photography, painting, drawing, design, woodwork and steelwork. So there is a range of things to choose from, which keeps things interesting.
In her art journey, Kudita also benefited from supportive parents and a sister who had already broken barriers by taking the journey into art first. Read More…
