EFA STUDIO PROGRAM: ALUMNI
Richard Hart
I was born in Scotland in 1968. At the age of 8 my newly divorced mother moved my young sister and I to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The experience of being uprooted and transplanted into Africa at such a young age was both terrifying and thrilling.
Although I have lived most of my life on African soil, I have always felt like something of an outsider. Yet somehow as the years have passed, I’ve come to recognise the indelible impression that Africa has made on my mind, heart and soul and I’ve realised that my take on this incredible place – skewed and filtered as it might be – is valid.
My work is a meditation on the spiritual landscape of Africa. It takes its cues from ritual, witchcraft and muti, as well as religious movements such as Shembe and the Zionist movement. Yet it takes liberties and license with what is and speculates on what could be.
