Troy Makaza is making waves on the Zimbabwean art scene, where the young mixed-medium artist is represented by First Floor Gallery. Meanwhile his growing international reputation has been cemented by Primo Marella Gallery in Milan, who recently presented the artist at 154 Paris. The piece he showed is titled ‘Bhuru Rinoonekwa Nemavanga’, a Shona proverb that translates to ‘A Bull Is Seen By His Scars’. “To me, this refers to the glorification of immortality,” the artist explains. “I’ve never been keen on pills or on medication but because of the pandemic, this has all changed. I have consumed a lot of medication since 2020 as illness prevention. All of this might be because of our communal fear for our wellness, which translates into a fear of death. Then I stop and think; I am not meant to live forever.”

When observing ‘Bhuru Rinoonekwa Nemavanga’ it’s the cartographic elements that stand out with the numbers ‘14 117’ and the letters ‘ZW’, the code of Zimbabwe, engraved onto white silicone. These numbers reference the issue of drug abuse and high unemployment among the youth in today’s Zimbabwe. The theme of human consumption, be it medical drugs, illegal drugs, or food, resurface time and time again in Makaza’s work. “What you consume is an indicator of your status. I am interested in looking at the balance or imbalance that food creates within the politics of power within society. I am examining this from a Zimbabwean perspective, but have found that it is a shared experience and a global issue.”

Makaza was brought up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe by his uncle whilst his parents went to the UK for work. “I was very young when I started doing art,” he recalls. “My dad would send me watercolors and I would sit for hours painting what I saw.” This early attention to the visual life that surrounding him developed his keen interest in both the political concerns of the country as well as the dynamics within the daily lives of ordinary people, which now forms the bedrock of his practice. “I absorb everything that is around me, both consciously and subconsciously.”

In 2005 Troy moved to Harare and became doubtful of a creative career path, dreaming of becoming a footballer instead. But a friend persuaded him not to waste his artistic talents and he went on to study at the National Gallery School of Visual Art and Design where he further developed his painting. “I particularly loved the visceral texture of oil paints, although it became very tough to find oil paints in Harare, and very expensive, so I had to turn to other mediums.”

Makaza has since invented his own hybrid medium. He uses silicone infused with lithographic ink and paint in an abstract manner yet the way in which he weaves and sculpts the medium is suggestive of traditional Zimbabwean techniques. His ability to nod towards his past influences while remaining explicitly contemporary in his practice gives us insight into what it is to be a young Zimbabwean today.

“I would use silicone sealant when I helped my father fix up leaks in the bathroom and used to love the texture and the impressions left by the tools on its surface. I always enjoyed seeing my marks left for years to come,” he explains on what first inspired him to turn to silicone in his practice. “In the beginning I used it as if it was paint as part of a two-dimensional approach but I later realised that there was much more scope for what I call ‘suspended paint’ in a three-dimensional manner.”

Makaza’s surreal works now inhabit an intermediate space between painting and sculpture, creating complex and surreal surfaces that embody and weave together powerful social metaphors. It’s little wonder then that Makaza’s inventive and alluring works have received critical and collector acclaim. He won the Tomorrows/Today prize at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair in 2019 and he has participated in institutional exhibitions such as Five Bhob at Zeitz MoCAA in Cape Town and Welcome Home at Museum of African Contemporary Art Al Maaden in Marrakech. On view now is his solo show ‘The Instincts of Great Survivors’ at Primo Marella Gallery, a narrative series exploring the different layers of Zimbabwean society since the end of Robert Mugabe’s rule.

Instincts of Great Survivors by Troy Makaza is on view at Primo Marella Gallery, Milan, until 26 May 2022