Poetic Transformations with Troy Makaza
AFSACK was honoured to welcome visual artist Troy Makaza and guest moderator Alexandra Baudelot, curator and director of the Musée d’Art et de Culture Soufis MTO, for their conversation, Poetic Transformations.
Troy Makaza’s work is a conscious reflection on the conditions of life in Zimbabwe today, both as a human and as a political subject. Drawing from cultural, sociopolitical, and personal histories, the artist transforms silicone and pigment to paint, going on to pipe, cast, and weave the viscous substance into his enigmatic compositions.
Crafting materiality and storytelling into a distinctive artistic language, the artist’s material process models his creative concerns. As the silicone transitions from plastic to paint to sculpture to tapestry, the artwork’s narrative shifts from personal to political to existential.
This Salon explored the artist’s inspirations and influences, as well as the ways in which his Shona heritage and Sufism shaped his creative process in the making of Mutiwaora (The tree is rotten), a monumental silicone painting-sculpture created specifically for the exhibition Un Ciel intérieur.
Marking the final moment for the visitor in the exhibition, Mutiwaora (The tree is rotten) unfolds around the notion of transition and travel between the physical world and spirituality, closing the exhibition with an invitation to extend it by following one's own path.
To learn more about MACS MTO, visit macsmto.fr/en.
Image caption: Installation view of Un Ciel intérieur (An inner Sky) . MACS MTO Inaugural Exhibition. Photo by Flint Studio.
The AFSACK Salon Series is an initiative of the American Friends of Sufi Arts, Culture & Knowledge™ (AFSACK®), a seasonal webinar where recent cultural, artistic, and scholarly works relating to Sufism are discussed. Each hour-long conversation focuses on a theme related to our guests’ recent projects. As a platform for dialogue, the Salon Series seeks to foster interdisciplinary conversations that bridge together broader concepts that are shared across various fields and subjects with Sufism. From art installations, to book talks, to album debuts, the Salon Series is a platform for sharing, dialogue, and access.
