Re-telling a woman’s story.
A journey back in time.
By Nyadzombe Nyampenza
350 years after his death, Prudence Chimutuwah takes the baton from Rembrandt. A 21st century Black woman living in Africa, engages with a 17th century White male who lived in Europe. The result is a seismic shift of perception on the subject.
Chimutuwah adapts the title from Rembrandt’s A Woman Bathing in a Stream to Kurwizi. The brief Shona title means ‘At the stream’. It carries sentimental undertones. Chimutuwah tells the story as a woman, and from the subject’s point of view. She supplants the male gaze. The subject changes from a mildly voyeuristic story about a woman at her ablutions. It becomes a story by the woman.
The bather’s physical features are derived from the artist’s own ethnicity. Her dark, textured hair falls over the shoulders in dreadlocks. Endowed with symbolic blue complexion, she radiates confidence, power, and authority. The artist has made the subject’s dress out of collage, resulting in material folds as she hitches up her dress. The brightly colored pieces of paper that make up the dress, mimic the patterns on fabrics commonly worn by African women.
Chimutuwah’s choice and handling of subject is fascinating. She dismantles and rebuilds, an age-old conception. The result proves her resolve and ambition both as a woman, and an artist.
