Kumbirai Makumbe
Select Works
Sometimes running away is walking away but faster
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Sometimes running away is walking away but faster
37.5 x 37.5 x 3 cm
Plaster, Sand, Acrylic
Gloriosa Superba
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Gloriosa Superba
96 x 47 x 63 cm
PLA, epoxy clay, acrylic
Pre-Intertopia
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Pre-intertopia, 2022
Her
PLA, Epoxy Resin, Acrylic
205 x 170 x 60 cm
Gourd
PLA, epoxy clay, Acrylic
85 x 21 x 20 cm
Portal
Sand
380 x 450 cm
Untitled (2022)
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Untitled (2022)
Untitled i
Oil stick on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
Untitled ii
Oil stick on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
Untitled iii
Oil stick on paper
21 x 29.7 cm
The Figments
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The Figments, 2021
Black Hole
25cm x 18.5cm x 8.5cm
PLA, Epoxy Resin, Acrylic
Coupling
12cm x 24.2cm x 23cm
PLA, Epoxy Resin, Acrylic
Them
14cm x 30cm x 13cm
PLA, Epoxy Resin, Acrylic
Living Doesn't Mean You're Alive
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Living Doesn't Mean You're Alive, 2021
Video, 17:15
Commissioned by Dateagle Art & Hervisions for Control the Virus Vol. 3. Kindly supported by Arts Council England.
Made in collaboration with:
HYE - Sound Producer
TAAHLIAH - Sound Producer
Alpha Rats - Programmer
It Was A Mix Of Things
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It Was A Mix Of Things, 2020
Commissioned by Arebyte Gallery for POWERPLAY, 2020.
The Gate
18 x 11 x 23 cm
Ceramic with silver glaze
Eywa
128 x 200 cm
Bespoke graphic rug
Support Structure
31 x 31 x 19 cm
Nylon
Untitled Print
170 x 100 xm
440gsm PVC
Evo's Turn
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Evo's Turn, 2019
Video, 4:25
Info & CV
About Me
My name is Kumbirai Makumbe and I’m a Zimbabwean artist based in London. My artistic practice predominantly revolves around sculpture but also entails imagery, video and audio-visual digital installations.
My recent work has revolved around self-narrativization, (hyper)visibility, softness, reconciliation, and the concept of belonging in a translocational context. Alongside this, I place a particular investment into contributing to the development of a black doll gaze told by us on our own terms.
Through the medium of fabulation, my ongoing research delves into Intertopia—a liminal space I've envisioned within the throat of wormholes, inhabited by those in-transit. Intertopia draws inspiration from the cosmologies, spiritual beliefs, and rituals of the Shona people in Zimbabwe, intertwining them with speculative interstellar travel, trans-ness, and metamorphosis.
I began this exploration by seeking to frame blackness in all its complexity and multidimensionality. Wanderlust and movement across spacetimes intersect with this endeavour, as I conceptualise blackness not as a matter of 'what' but rather as a matter of 'where' and 'when'.
The abstracted body, traversal and portals are recurring motifs in my practice. In my sculptural work, I delight in obfuscating and manipulating elements of the human form, creating a visual language that implies the complexities of ‘our’ condition without offering easy answers. My work is a dance between revelation and concealment.
My sculptural work serves as both a tribute to those who came before me and a testament to my own existence, a refusal to be relegated to the margins. I like to think of my positionality as that of an anatopism, existing in spaces that defy conventional categorization, and an anachronism, navigating through time with a history that has been obscured or erased. Through my work, I perpetually attempt to articulate this complex narrative through messily bridging the past, present, and future and filling in the gaps however I see fit when they’re encountered.
I often liken my sculptural practice to terraforming this specific spacetime. By this, I mean the process of integrating micro-landscapes and characters/figures from my speculative narratives into my tangible lived experience.
Education
BA (Hons) Design for Art Direction,
London College of Communication.
2016 - 2019
Postgraduate Certificate in Creative Education,
University of the Creative Arts
2023 - 2024
Teaching Positions
Lecturer in Art & Design
London College of Contemporary Arts
2023 - Present
Associate Lecturer
London College of Communication
BA (Hons) Design for Art Direction
2023 - Present
Tutor
Educator's Republic
2023 - Present
Exhibitions
2023
The Art Station, Saxmundham
Group Show
CIVA Festival, Vienna, Austria
Group Show
Fabric of Dreams: Towards a Technodiversity
Angewandte Interdisciplinary Lab (AIL), Vienna, Austria
Group Show
2021
Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
Group Show
Roodkapje Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Group Show
Symposion Lindabrunn, Austria
Group Show
Transfer Gallery in Partnership with Left Gallery
Group Show
Dateagle Art, London, UK
Group Show
2019
BBZ Alternative Graduate Show 2019
Copeland Gallery, London, UK
Group Show
Arebyte On Screen,
Arebyte Gallery
Specter, Wrong Biennale
Group Show
Wrong Biennale,
In Partnership with Arebyte Gallery
Group Show
2022
Arebyte Gallery, London, UK
Group Show
Visual Carlow, Carlow, Ireland
Group Show
We Exist & Koppel Projects, London, UK
Group Show
2020
Bitforms Gallery, New York, USA
In Partnership with New Art City
Group Show
Arebyte Gallery, London, UK. August 2020.
National Galleries of Zimbabwe (Harare, Bulawayo, Mutare), 2020-2021.
Group Show
Vacation at the End of the World,
Offsite Projects
Group Show
Isthisit?
Group Show
Talks, Presentations, Panel Discussions & Workshops
2022
Where Do We Go From Here?! Part 4 - Workshop
The Feminist Library & Kinesis Collective
Shocked Quartz Festival
Host & Workshop Facilitator
Presentation & Panel Discussion
Invited Guest
Where Do We Go From Here?! Part 3
Montez Press
Host
2020
Invited Artist
Tactics: Power and Play, 2020
Arebyte Gallery
Moderator & Speaker
2021
Where Do We Go From Here?! Part 2
Bloc Projects
Co-host
Recipes for a Technological Undoing
Sandberg Institute
Workshop Host
Art/ Work Association & Auto Italia
Host
Networked Futures: Worldbuilding and Video Games,
Isthisit?
Panelist
2019
London Film Festival Experimenta Debate 2019,
ICA
In partnership with BFI & ICA
Guest Speaker
The Conch, October
South London Gallery,
Guest Speaker
Publications & Awards
Publication & Contributions
LUX, Editted by Cairo Clarke
Contributor
Networked Futures: Online Exhibitions and Digital Hierarchies
Isthisit? Edited by Bob Bicknell Knight
Contributor & Interview
Chimeras: Inventory of synthetic cognition
Edited by Ilan Manouach and Anna Engelhardt
Published by Onassis Foundation
Contributor
Awards and Grants
Black Artist’s Grant, 2020
Daniel Arsham & Samuel D Ross
DYCP, 2024
Arts Council England
Select Press
How Kumbirai Makumbe’s love for digital matter birthed their future-focused practice
Feature, It's Nice That
Kumbirai Makumbe on blending the physical and digital in their artistic practice
Feature, Creative Lives In Progress
Sentient Beings 2.0: Kumbirai Makumbe, Living Doesn't Mean you're Alive
Feature, INACTUAL Magazine