Nocturnal Body (2022) and other works

Overview

Felix Shumba’s multidisciplinary practice interprets sociopolitical issues such as dislocation and migration through the use of existing imagery culled from archival and media sources. Ruwa River (2022) is a multi-sensory installation while Nocturnal Body (2022) is a series of drawings, reflecting on the violence of the chemical war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and the cost of freedom from colonialism. His charcoal drawings allude to the chemical weapons released by the Rhodesian government’s scientific units into water sources, food systems and terrestrial ecosystems. The installation consists of a matrix of boxes evoking the mechanisms of intelligence gathering and looting deployed by the colonisers, with speakers playing sounds evoking the conflict’s atrocities.