By Dr Tony Monda

ZIMBABWE’S independence in 1980 brought with it new artistic possibilities of expressing who we are as liberated indigenous peoples.
The Gallery of Rhodesia became the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, and our National Coat-of-Arms changed from the Rhodesian Sable to the Zimbabwe Bird and the iconic Star of Africa.
While notions of cultural reconstruction, affirmation and indigenisation were prominently expounded on in the early 1980s, our 34 years old vision is yet to assert itself visually within the public arena.
In order for us to fully understand the implications of independence the visual arts and other art forms should provide an inspiration for the visual articulation and appreciation of our cultural, spiritual, social and economic liberation.
However, our visual independence is yet to unveil for us an entirely new way of seeing ourselves and distinguishing ourselves artistically as Zimbabweans within the greater global context.
What constitutes Zimbabwean colour schemes? What symbols and iconography constitute our heritage? What can we visually identify as our tangible and intangible heritage? Which aspects of our traditions make up our visual identity?
The expansion of knowledge regarding our visual culture: past, present and possible future, is vital and pertinent.
Indigenous artists have to struggle against much misrepresentation in our recorded and un-recorded history in order to obtain an authentic identity of our culture in contemporaneity.
For generations, Eurocentric anthropological opinion attributed most of the characteristics and distinguishing features of ancient Zimbabwe Ruins and our cultural artefacts to Phoenicians, Minoans, Egyptians and other ancient cultures.
The reason for this was simple: We had not pictorially recorded or acknowledged the significance of our visual cultural heritage and as a result, the psychological domination and interpretation of our African spaces and material culture was privy to colonial Western scholars.
We need to be cognisant that the central aspect of any nation’s life is the way in which it views itself.
Each nation has been produced by its own peculiar history and exists in its particular environment.
It has features and visions no other nation can share. One of the ways we can explore our own national reality is through the visual arts.
The visual arts give us an insight into the multiple facets of our collective lives as Zimbabweans.
Following independence, the formation of a division of culture within a major ministry of Government has enabled to Government to express a coherent policy on cultural matters. In essence the policy has three facets to it:
That the peoples of Zimbabwe be made aware of their splendid cultural heritage and re-discover the art and beauty which were theirs.
That the educational systems’ formal and non formal, should draw on and have access to, the artistic and cultural heritage of the whole world to enrich the present life of the people.
That the cultural richness of the past and the present be understood and enjoyed to enable all of our peoples to participate in planning the future egalitarian society of Zimbabwe.
Despite the fact that the ingredients and conditions which enable art to grow and flourish exist in Zimbabwe, local education and patronage of the arts has still been found wanting.
If art is to be seen as a barometer of our socio-cultural milieu and a gauge of our socio-cultural progress, we should question ourselves why this has not taken place.
The proposed SADC School of Art and Design mooted since the early 1990s has still not come to fruition; and the content and context for art education do not exist in any of our tertiary institutions of learning.
Art education should be a significant bastion of the cultural life of the country. It should be the foundation of the nation’s public investment in its art, culture its artists, and general populace.
One of the most important aims of art awareness in education is to enable society to enjoy with understanding and insight, the man-made world of places, products and images, and take part in the personal and public art and design scope that affect their daily lives and the life of their surrounding community.
The education and cultural ministries must engage with artists to encourage and inspire to ever-greater ambition, boldness and excellence, in its most creative sense.
Art is an important generator of wealth boosting the economy through innovation, the pursuit of excellence, enterprise and job creation. Furthermore, art addresses economic growth on a sustainable basis and should be part of economic empowerment programmes.
In order to provide an enabling environment for sustainable economic empowerment and social transformation, arts and culture should be at the forefront of development.
Worldwide the arts and creative economy are no longer considered informal sectors but are taken seriously and absorbed into the macro economy.
The traditional and contemporary arts of indigenous Zimbabweans should be at the heart of our national vision and socio-economic development agendas.
Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD. in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate of Business Administration) in Post-Colonial Heritage Studies.