Talks

Black Market Sound - Sound and Resistance in the Art of Masimba Hwati

Hwati’s work explores everyday forms of resistance and negotiation through sculpture, sound, performance and indigenous philosophies. He holds a PhD in Art Practice from the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna, an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,  ND Fine Arts from Harare Polytechnic. His collections have appeared at the Musée de la Musique, Philharmonie de Paris, University of Michigan Museum of Art; Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami; Iziko South African National Gallery; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Manchester Contemporary; Scott White Contemporary, San Diego; George R. Nnamdi Collection, Detroit; National Gallery of Zimbabwe etc. Special projects and solos include Harare, London, Miami, Lagos, Joburg, Berlin, Weimar, Nova Scotia, Manchester, South Carolina, Brussels, Nottingham, Berlin, El Paso, Texas, Vienna. Books include “Der Seeteufel: And Other Alien Species” (2022) and “Sokunge (As if)” (2021). Hwati is working on a new book on Chidzimbahwe sonic philosophies. Albums include Lakenights-2019, Hwati-Collino- 2020 Soil, Root, Leaf, 2025.

Zimbabwe born, Tandazani Dhlakama is Curator of Global Africa at ROM. Before arriving at ROM, she was curator at Zeitz MOCAA, and worked at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare. She has contributed to many exhibitions, conferences, and a biennial. Her recent curations and co-curations have included When We See Us: A Century of Black Figuration in Painting (2022), Five Bhobh: Painting at the End of an Era (Zeitz MOCAA, 2018), Witness: Afro Perspectives from the Jorge M. Pérez Collection (El Espacio, Miami, 2020), and recently, Seekers, Seers, Soothsayers (2023), at Zeitz MOCAA. 

Dhlakama holds an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies from the University of Leeds, UK (2015) and a BA in Fine Art and Political Science from St. Lawrence University, USA (2011).