This First Word comes at a time when Zimbabwe's continued visibility at the Venice Biennale is in question because of the country's current economic and political challenges. The Curator's BlackBox seeks to trace Zimbabwe's journey to the Venice Biennale from 2011 to the present, a journey that has so many chapters. Zimbabwean artists are the major players in this journey and my job as the chief curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe has simply been to create the platform for their chapters to unfold.
To those who regard themselves as our teachers yet question how and why the Zimbabwe Pavilion is at the Venice Biennale, it is interesting how no-one ever questions the presence of Western countries' pavilions. An African country's visibility on any global platform seems to always raise questions. However, I think our visibility at the Biennale is important given how non-visibile our nations are on most...