LONDON - I recently attended an Art Exhibition at Central St Martins Foundation Exhibition in London, which had many promising works of art on show such as Installations, Films, Textiles, Photography, Paintings, Jewellery and Ceramics. A piece called Elevation by the extraordinarily talented Zimbabwean Artist Dana Whabira stood out from the rich display of art. The story behind his piece fascinated me. Elevation was inspired by Mr Dhara, a homeless man who struggled for months to build a home for his family in Zimbabwe, unknowingly using sub-standard bricks. These dissolved during the rainy season – leaving just a honeycomb structure in the middle of the field. Dana Whabira conceptualized the man’s hopes and despair in this structure.
The artist explained that Elevation is ” the unrealised dream of building our perfect world, faced by the forces of man and nature. The story behind Elevation is culturally universal by just looking at pictures showing the devastation of Hurricane Katrina or the recent earthquake in Japan. Standing in front of this piece of art I experienced a catharsis and understood how the narrative represented loss and unrealised dreams of the common man. Elevation captured the essence of humanities’ blood, sweat, tears, joy and despair in the pursuit of a perfect world and how the forces of nature sometimes collaborate against man.