Owen Maseko (born on 24 August 1975"Zimbabwe artist defies Robert Mugabe"
''The Guardian'', April 4, 2010) is a

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

ist and

installation art Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called ...

ist,"Owen Maseko second runner up for Freedom to create prize"
Zimbabwe Online Press, November 27, 2010 described as "one of Zimbabwe's most prominent artists"."Supreme court readies itself for artist Owen Maseko's case"
''Global Post'', March 24, 2011 In March 2010, he was arrested "less than 24 hours after his new exhibition opened" at the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director o ...

in Bulawayo. His works referred to the massacres of

Ndebele Ndebele may refer to: *Southern Ndebele people, located in South Africa *Northern Ndebele people, located in Zimbabwe and Botswana Languages *Southern Ndebele language, the language of the South Ndebele *Northern Ndebele language, the language o ...

civilians during the

Gukurahundi The ''Gukurahundi'' was a genocide in Zimbabwe which arose in 1982 until the Unity Accord in 1987. It derives from a Shona language term which loosely translates to "the early rain which washes away the chaff before the spring rains". During ...

in the 1980s, carried out by forces loyal to Robert Mugabe. The exhibition, called "Sibathontisele" ("Let's Drip On Them"), consisted in "three installations and twelve paintings". Maseko was charged, under the ''Public Order and Security Act'', with "undermining the authority" of President Robert Mugabe. He was also charged with "causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion". The charges carried a possible twenty-year prison sentence. He was granted bail."Zimbabwe artist granted bail after Matabeleland exhibit"

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

, March 30, 2010 In September, his trial was postponed pending consideration by the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

as to "whether criminalising creative arts infringes on the

freedom of expression Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

and

freedom of conscience Freedom of thought (also called freedom of conscience) is the freedom of an individual to hold or consider a fact, viewpoint, or thought, independent of others' viewpoints. Overview Every person attempts to have a cognitive proficiency by ...

", as guaranteed by the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

. A magistrate granted an application to the Supreme Court on constitutional grounds, and on the grounds that Maseko's art depicted events which had unquestionably happened. Maseko was second runner up for the

Freedom to Create Prize The Freedom to Create Prize was established in 2008 to foster prosperity in the developing world by investing in the creative foundations of society. The Freedom to Create Prize was awarded from 2008 to 2011 to support and recognise artists who st ...

in 2010, for his exhibition on the Gukurahundi killings.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maseko, Owen 1970s births Living people 21st-century Zimbabwean painters