Raphael Chikukwa (born 1970) is a Zimbabwean curator and the Executive Director of the

National Gallery of Zimbabwe The National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) is a gallery in Harare, Zimbabwe, dedicated to the presentation and conservation of Zimbabwe's contemporary art and visual heritage. The original National Gallery of Rhodesia was designed and directed by ...

in 2020. Prior to this, he was Chief Curator and before that spent a decade as an independent curator. Chikukwa is a

Chevening Scholar The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarshi ...

who holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Design from

Kingston University London Kingston University London is a Public university, public research university located within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, in South London, South West London, England. Its roots go back to the Kingston Technical Institute, founded in 1 ...

Career

He was trained at Harare Art Centre in

Mbare Mbare is a suburb in the south of Harare, Zimbabwe. Founded in 1907 as a township, it includes an informal settlement. Mbare Musika is the largest farm produce market in Zimbabwe. History Mbare was the first township, now known as a high dens ...

. He volunteered at the second Johannesburg Biennale in 1997 working under

Okwui Enwezor Okwui Enwezor (23 October 1963 – 15 March 2019) was a Nigerian curator, art critic, writer, poet, and educator, specializing in art history. He lived in New York City and Munich. In 2014, he was ranked 24 in the ''ArtReview'' list of the 100 m ...

. He then spent the next decade working as an independent curator. Chikukwa studied and trained in Europe before he was appointed Curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. While there he was the founding curator of the Zimbabwean Pavilion at the 54th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

in 2011, and he organised the country's representation in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2022. Chikukwa was appointed Executive Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in 2020.

Publications

*''Visions of Zimbabwe'' (Manchester City Art Galleries, 2004); *''Mawonero/Umbono: Insights on Art in Zimbabwe (Kerber Verlag, 2016)';'' *''Kabbo Ka Muwala: Migration and Mobility in Contemporary Art (Revolver, 2017)''''.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chikukwa, Raphael Living people Curators African art curators Alumni of Kingston University 21st-century Zimbabwean people 1970 births