Portia Zvavahera was born in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, where she currently lives and works. As a young woman in Harare, Portia frequently visited Gallery Delta, an exhibition space celebrating Zimbabwean artists, created by Helen Lieros, a semi-abstract painter who founded the gallery with her husband. Growing up in Harare’s contemporary art scene, Zvavahera explored modernist and indigenous art, which inspired her own practise.
Zvavahera studied at Harare’s BAT Visual Art Studios, National Gallery of Zimbabwe in 2003-4, one of only two women studying at BAT at that time. The school focused on incorporating both European and African artistic styles.


Following this, Zvavahera studied for a diploma in Fine Arts from Harare Polytechnic (2005-06), with Chikonzero Chazunguza as one of her teachers. Chazunguza was a painter who worked with repetition – a technique which Zvavahera uses in her own artistic practice, as many of the artworks in our current exhibition Portia Zvavahera: Zvakazarurwa feature repeating printed patterns. He encouraged Zvavahera to mix mediums and materials.
Zvavahera’s work often comes from her own dreams. Growing up, both her mother and grandmother would recount their nightly dreams in the morning, encouraging Zvavahera to share her own – she recounts that it was a form of embarrassment for her if she did not have a dream to share. Art became a healing process, and way to remember her dreams, releasing all of the emotions that she experienced onto the canvas.

People say their prayers with words, and I’m saying my prayers with a painting
Zvavahera is a Christian, and her paintings express her faith as a form of prayer. She only paints when these emotions come to her, and looks for positive answers to her dreams, regardless of how dark the dream was. The paintings provide a ‘positive solution’ to her dreams, allowing her to find a way to process even her darkest dreams.
Zvakazarurwa is Zvavahera’s first solo exhibition in Europe. Exhibition curator Tamar Garb began following Zvavahera in the early 2010s, when Zvavahera’s works explored images of childbirth and motherhood. Zvavahera’s children feature heavily in her work, as she dreams of them under threat, this danger is often represented by rats, or other animals. In Labour Ward (seen on the left in the photo), Zvavahera explores the solidarity that she found amongst women giving birth – being on the ward together, the women were able to support each other, and take strength from each other.

Portia Zvavahera: Zvakazarurwa
Experience large-scale paintings and vivid dreams in our current exhibition by Portia Zvavahera (b. 1985, Zimbabwe). The paintings on display showcase Zvavahera’s unique combination of techniques – painting, block-printing, and batik stencilling. In the exhibition you will see patterned and intensely coloured paintings that weave together dreams, fantasies, and the spiritual traditions the artist grew up with.