Wallen Mapondera

Wallen Mapondera was born in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he currently lives and works. Mapondera completed his Masters Degree in Fine Art from Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa in 2019.

He was awarded the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Artist-in-Residence Programme hosted at the National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design Studios in Harare in 2007, and the Artist-in-Residence programme at the Vermont Studio Center, Burlington in Vermont, USA in 2012. In 2015 he was the recipient of Zimbabwe’s prestigious National Arts Merit Award awarded by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe.

In 2022 Mapondera will represent Zimbabwe at the 59th Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy, with an exhibition titled I did not leave a sign curated by Fadzai Muchemwa; as well as presenting a solo exhibition of new work titled Chikokoko (Little Pleasures That Count) at Galerie Mitterrand in Paris, France. Mapondera presented a solo booth with SMAC Gallery in the Nova Section of Art Basel OVR: Miami Beach in 2020.