Oliver Mtukudzi once sang Tsika Dzedu as a lament, asking where the country's values had gone. This September, a young gallery in the granite hills of Domboshava borrowed his title for a national art exhibition and competition, and asked artists to answer his question with their work.
What happened in Domboshava
Tsika Dzedu: Zimbabwe National Exhibition and Competition ran from 8 to 12 September at the Artgal Zim Center, according to a release from its organiser, Artgal.Online. The week ended with a vernissage and awards ceremony on 12 September. Selected works stay on display until 3 October, so there's still time to see them.
The centre's own social media framed the day as a celebration of preserving heritage and inspiring the next generation. It said students from its KZA mentorship programme would be among those receiving awards.
A gallery that is only six months old
The venue is new. NewsDay reported its opening in March, when Chief Chinamhora officially launched the space founded by artist Keith Zenda. The paper noted a partnership with Dennis Ruf, owner of the Switzerland-based Art Gal Online, and that a deputy director of the National Arts Council attended. The centre sits about 27 kilometres from Harare at Mverechena Business Centre and describes itself as focused on young artists.
Tsika Dzedu wasn't its first competition. An earlier contest, Viksit Bharat 2047, was run with the Embassy of India, featured 17 emerging artists, and awarded its prizes at the Indian Ambassador's residence.
How it fits with the national calendar
Zimbabwe already has a long-running juried showcase. The National Gallery's Zimbabwe Annual Exhibition, relaunched in 2014 as The Herald reported at the time, awards prizes in categories such as painting, sculpture, graphics and photography. Next to that, a six-month-old rural gallery calling its event national is a bold claim.
It's also the kind of claim that can widen the field. Not every young artist can get their work to Harare, and a gallery in Domboshava with international partners and a mentorship programme gives rural and peri-urban artists another way in.
What we still don't know
Most of what's been published about Tsika Dzedu so far comes from the organiser's own press releases, distributed through wires in the United States. At the time of writing we couldn't find published results, judges, prize values, entry numbers or categories, or any independent coverage of the awards day. It also isn't clear how open the call for entries was, compared with how much of the event was built around the centre's own mentees.
None of that takes away from the idea. But a competition that calls itself national earns that title by publishing its winners, its judges and its process, and we'll update this piece when those details appear.
Why it matters
Mtukudzi's question hasn't gone away, and asking artists to respond to it on a national platform is a good instinct. If Artgal Zim Center follows through with transparent results and a second edition, Domboshava could become a useful stop on the country's art calendar, the kind of place where a young artist from outside the city gets their first real audience.
Sources
- Tsika Dzedu: Zimbabwe National Exhibition and Competition 2026 to celebrate Zimbabwean artists, PRLog (Artgal.Online release)
- Artgal.Online presents Tsika Dzedu, Miami Art Scene
- New art hub opens in Domboshava, NewsDay
- Exhibition to measure visual art progress, The Herald
- Zim artist Nyahunzvi explores cultural values in a bold new exhibition, NewsDay
