Art as Journalism in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The mediations on the postcolonial culture of violence in Zimbabwe remain contentious. This culture has helped to sustain the ruling ZANU-PF stranglehold on power. ZANU-PF has refused to be held accountable especially in those violent episodes where it has been the perpetrator. This paper offers an analysis of key themes in Bulawayo-based artist Owen Maseko’s works as an alternative form of journalism challenging and resisting the status quo. The focus is on the 1982–1987 genocide which claimed in excess of 20,000 lives and affected mostly the South-Western region of Zimbabwe, the Midlands and Matabeleland areas. Maseko’s 2010 Bulawayo art gallery exhibition boldly critiqued the 1980s massacres, raising the ire of the authorities, and leading to the gagging of the exhibition and his arrest. This paper uses in-depth interviews with three key informants—an artist, a cultural commentator, and a lawyer, human rights activist and minister in the Government of National Unity (GNU) cabinet during Maseko’s arrest—to explore the role which art plays as a form of journalism in a context where information flows are restricted and no formal acknowledgement of the genocide has been made. The paper locates arts as journalistic: confronting pain, opening debate and providing healing on genocide debates.