Genesis [Je n'isi isi] I

Kudzanai Chiurai, Zimbabwean, born 1981

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2016

Pigment inks on premium satin photo paper

3/10

Image: 51 3/16 × 55 1/8 in. (130 × 140 cm)

Sheet: 56 1/16 × 56 1/16 in. (142.4 × 142.4 cm)

Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through James and Barbara Block Acquisitions Endowment

2017.10

Geography

Place Made: Zimbabwe, Southern Africa, Africa

Period

21st century

Object Name

Photograph

Research Area

Photograph

Africa

Not on view

Label

Known for his photographs and films in which he merges fiction and historical facts, the Zimbabwean artist Kudzanai Chiurai offers insightful consideration of contemporary politics and social life. In Genesis (Je n’isi isi) I, a commentary on European colonialism in Southern Africa, Chiurai revisits the story of David Livingstone, a Scottish medical doctor and Christian Congregationalist. He is remembered as a pioneering medical missionary who proselytized and sought profitable commerce during his travels in Africa, and is associated with the famous quote "Dr. Livingstone, I presume." Chiurai stages a fictive meeting between Livingstone, who spent considerable time in Southern Africa, and an unidentified local chief from one of the cultural groups in the sub-region. In the background, a Western temple-front pediment rests atop two columns and is set against a marbled backdrop, reminiscent of a photographer’s studio. The black-and-white checks of the parquet floor echo the divisions between black and white that run throughout the rest of the image, from the figures and their clothing to their setting. The staged nature of the photograph is immediately evident.

From the 2019 exhibition Global Contemporary: A Focus on Africa, curated by Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, Curator of African Art

Course History

WRIT 5, Criticism: How to Do It and Why, Paul Carranza, Winter 2019

AAAS 67.5, GEOG 21.01, Black Consciousness and Black Feminisms, Abigail Neely, Winter 2019

HIST 2, #EverythingHasAHistory, Matthew Delmont and Max Fraser, Fall 2019

HIST 66/AAAS 15, History of Africa Since 1800, Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Winter 2021

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

HIST 5.08/AAAS 19, Africa and the World, Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Summer 2022

HIST 5.08/AAAS 19, Africa and the World, Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Summer 2022

HIST 5.08/AAAS 19, Africa and the World, Naaborko Sackeyfio-Lenoch, Summer 2022

ANTH 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2022

Geography 21.01/International Studies 18.01, Global Health and Society, Anne Sosin, Spring 2024

Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Fall 2023

History 67.01/African and African American Studies 46.01, History of Modern South Africa, Robert Zeinstra III, Winter 2024

Art History 48.02, Histories of Photography, Katie Hornstein, Spring 2024

Exhibition History

Global Contemporary: A Focus on Africa; Dorothy and Churchill Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26-September 10, 2019.

Publication History

John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 218, ill. plate no. 149.

Provenance

Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa; sold to present collection, 2017.

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