UNBURDENED

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe is pleased to present Unburdened; an exhibition in observance of International Men’s Day. As the world continues to question masculinity; either in a negative light, or the positive, there remains a Gordian knot on what being a Man is, in the 21st Century. Cultures vary, and with that, so does Manhood. Through Art, one may delve into the thematic focuses of the Man who executed their work in the previous Century, to the current state of affairs; the Millennial and Gen Z, or ama2k artist. The definition of masculinity between ‘that First Generation and now has evolved, and the conventions of seeing, doing and being such is marginally different.
Unburdened was stimulated by two diametrically opposed capsules of masculinity;
Shelley’s Ozymandias that boasts the irony of the stump of a monumental man on the classic world, and Kafka’s Metamorphosis, wherein the breadwinner becomes grotesque and spurned by his beneficiaries.
Both analogize a spectrum of the experiences of Man, and in that space between literary time, industrialization and capital, a burden exists upon the protagonist.
In an age of Information; parasocial hyperstimulation, emotional vulnerability and overall lack of calm, Men are vulnerable to trauma, the major being suicidality, wherein the Police (2019), reported that 2058 Men took their own lives as compared to 505 Women. An uptake of drug and substance abuse exacerbates this crisis moreover.
The work featured in this exhibition moderates the perception of masculinity by inquest into the mitigating factors that drive the breakdown of the anima; with the creative force, being tethered to vivify the viewer to engage a new perspective on what a Man is in this epoch that is characterized by a deluge of data.
F. Zvikomborero Mandangu
December, 2025
NATIONAL GALLERY
OF ZIMBABWE