OUTSIDER ART
Great Exodus: Emotions ride high in paintings depicting migration
Independent Zimbabwe-born artist Ronald Muchatuta finds a precious niche in Cape Town despite racial tensions and economic hardships, writes Valeria Geselev
Zimbabwe-born contemporary artist Ronald Muchatuta, who specialises in drawing, painting and mosaic, relocated to SA in 2007 to pursue a new future and now lives in Cape Town. He began his career at the age of 16 as a pottery decorator at Ros Byrne Pottery in Harare, Zimbabwe. After being mentored at Gallery Delta in Harare, he finished his fine art exams through the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. Muchatuta’s first solo exhibition in Cape Town was held in 2014 at Greatmore Studios in Woodstock, his artistic home in the past three years. During the weekends, or late at night, Nina Simone was blasted from the speakers in his tiny clustered studio, competing with the sounds of hip hop in the yard where Khaya Witbooi works. If Greatmore had an award for the most hard-working resident artist, the two would have to share the trophy. In January, Muchatuta had to clear his studio and move out as his lease had expired. Greatmore’s rent is an exceptional deal in a town of gentrified real estat...
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