Wycliffe Mundopa, Helen Teede & Gresham Nyaude

In July and August 2018, Africa First and START hosted three emerging Zimbabwean painters—Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude, Wycliffe Mundopa, and Helen Teede—for a residency in Tel Aviv.

Nyaude, raised in Mbare, one of Harare’s most vibrant yet notorious neighborhoods, transformed the energy of his surroundings into satirical, poetic canvases. He built layers of color into bubble-like forms that concealed figures, often open-mouthed and set on recurring motifs such as chess rooks and traffic cones, symbols of power, structure, and hazard. In Tel Aviv, he incorporated local references, collaging Israeli newspapers and adding common phrases like “ya-lah,” capturing the city’s fast-paced rhythm while echoing the loud vitality of both Mbare and Tel Aviv.

Mundopa focused on the lives of women and children in Harare’s underprivileged neighborhoods, where tradition and economic strain collide. Known for crowded scenes filled with exaggerated female forms, umbrellas, dogs, and fruits, he created vibrant, chaotic compositions. During the residency, he integrated fabrics from Tel Aviv markets—florals, stripes, sequins, and animal prints—into his paintings, merging Zimbabwean themes with local textures.

Teede’s practice examined the relationship between power, writing, and history, often “reading” the earth’s surface as a cultural text. In Tel Aviv, she worked from photographs of her grandfather’s home as it faced demolition, while experimenting with new surfaces like carpets purchased at the Yafo flea market. Through layered paint, she transformed these domestic objects into bearers of memory and history.

The residency highlighted three distinct voices from Harare’s contemporary scene, each reimagining personal and cultural narratives within a new context.

Read more about the trio in Whitewall Magazine's interview with curator and co-founder of First Floor Gallery, Valerie Kabov here.