Zimbabwe’s 2025 National Culture Month, May 2025, under the theme “Celebrating Indigenous Voices” celebrated the country’s diverse cultural and linguistic heritage.

Culture Month Launch at Rusununguko Clinic, Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, was the lowveld component of the nationwide events – particularly celebrating our local Tsonga/changana culture

Wonderful traditional xibelani dance was displayed for the huge crowd that attended the event …inspiring me onwards in my dance theme for my own art practice …

My own art exhibitions with the National Arts Council Zimbabwe and the National Gallery, Zimbabwe, during Culture Month, Zimbabwe May, 2025, marked a turning point for me into a wider Dance, Art, Rhythm, Music and Craft celebration in my art practice.

History:

Living as I do with the Mahenye Xangana (Hlengwe) community of the south east lowveld, Dance (Kudzana/Kutamba), Storytelling (Ngano) and Poetry has long featured in my art, such as this painting and poem “Dancing with my sisters, Dancing with my cellphone…” 2018, acrylic and hand-stitched rhythmic beadwork on stretched canvas, 3 x 4 feet, and inserted is my poem…. (originally shown at The National Gallery of Zimbabwe, ‘Blood Relatives” group exhibition, 2018)

During the last year, I have been sketching traditional dancers in the tsonga/changana community, in the south east lowveld of Zimbabwe, and contemporary dancers from Zimbabwean dance group Afrikera Trust and French dance group DANS6T at Alliance Francais in Harare, and what entrances me is the similarity, the continuity of movement and expression, a universal language replicated endlessly!!

I am dreaming and painting large “dance” abstracts, referencing my sketches, and thinking about ‘Dance’ and the dance dress that people wear as a universal communication across boundaries and between diverse people… from traditional tsonga/changana dance to Michael Jackson to HipHop!!….

I am also creating woven/crochet twine medallions with the Mahenye ‘crochet and weaving queens’, Blessing Runodada, Susan Simango, Margaret Chauke and Sarah Mhlanga!

I create my “art from trash” rag strip dance skirts using recycled fabric off cuts from my dear stepdaughter who owns a business making sports-kit and school wear. These are stitched into my fashion/art ideas by Luckson, a dress maker friend in Harare… art assemblages in their own right!

I create my Salampore beaded art/dance skirts with the kind help of talented beaders Blessing Runodada Red, Pukwani Simango Black, Jenny Muhlanga (Enock sister), Jennet Chauke, Susan Sithole Turq, Lucia Simango Yellow and

Exploring Traditional dyes in art and crafts in the south east lowveld…. At the British Council, Creative Economy Week held in Harare, early 2025, my explorations into indigenous bark dyes resulted in an art workshop where I created tie dyed and hand painted art/dance skirts and rhythm-inspired paintings using my hand collected and processed khulhu bark (Trichelia emetica)….

Painting with a lala palm brush, plus printing with found objects, gave very satisfactory marks in my painting on my dance skirts…

Background to the National Arts Council Zimbabwe National Culture Month, Zimbabwe, May, 2025:

After the Miniatures group exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and the Creative Economy Week, we as Burnt Offerings Collective were invited by both National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ) and National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ), to further display all this art at Cultural Month Launch at Rusununguko Clinic, Chiredzi, Zimbabwe, May 2025… follow this link for some background….. (We thereafter went on to show our artworks at Budula Festival June 2025)

Celebrating Indigenous Voices was the NACZ theme for National Culture Month… a theme of course very close to my heart, and my growing art theme during 2025, and to be continued into 2026, is DANCE.

At National Culture Month, one of my art displays was “Caged Culture” Art Assemblage, a ‘dancing’ lady composed of wire cage body, clay pot heart, beaded necklaces, snail shell totems, traditionalsalampore fabric beaded dancing skirt (chibabela), maceka (wraps) of Zimbabwean national fabric and wooden table legs. (Credits: I am using a skirt by Junia Matsuve, and beaded snail shells Kelli Barker)….

Culture Month at Rusununguko- Lin Barrie Dance paintings…attended by glorious fashionistas..

ZBC news online featured an interview with me at Rusununguko…

https://www.facebook.com/zbcnews/videos/1064593798896143/?mibextid=KsPBc6

We, as Burnt Offerings Collective, (Lin Barrie, Johnson Zuze and Kelli Barker), were honoured when President Manangagwa visited our art exhibition, as seen here with Napoleon Nyanhi of NACZ, and Lin Barrie…..

Anticipating the Presidential visit, I soon learnt a hard lesson, learnt the price I would pay for bravely displaying my art assemblage “Caged Culture”, (my dancing ‘lady’ composed of wire cage body, clay pot heart and dancing skirt with wooden table legs…). I brazenly put her out in the open, as seen here, ready to DANCE, with the Presidential cavalcade and hospitality tents in the background… as Johnson Zuze’s shell wasp peeks out from behind. Note, we were wisely advised by Mrs Gotore and Mrs Mudefi to move the artwork well back, which we did not do, our mistake... so read on below for the lesson we learned…!!

The lesson I learnt below in italics…not to put my “Caged Culture” too much ‘out in the open’…!!….

At Culture Month, my art assemblage “Caged Culture” stood bravely forth… unwrapped and ready to DANCE!… With her Salampore fabric beaded skirt by Junia Matsuve, her clay pot heart and her beaded totem shells, she boldly waited to be presented to the President. As the President approached our art display, the wave of paparazzi that eagerly engulfed us completely ran over poor “Caged Culture”, knocking her to the ground, her skirt in disarray and her wooden legs in the air, as they jostled for position to photograph the proceedings!!! She stoically survived the assault, and after the President had been introduced to us by Napoleon Nyanhi, and the entourage had swept onwards, we picked her up and dusted her off. We were watched carefully by a vigilant rear guard, a fierce-looking, fully armed, helmeted and goggled security man. Let’s call him Darth. Darth seemed made of granite, enigmatic and definitely not approachable, but as I indignantly righted “Caged Culture” and caught his steely eye, I just had to smile, and was rewarded with a crinkling of the eyes behind the bullet proof visor, a twinkle of humanity and humour behind that grim visage !!!

“Caged Culture” survived to dance another day, and I, together with Johnson and Kelli, press onwards with our theme of DANCE, working towards some exciting exhibitions in 2026…..

Let’s Dance, Kudzana, Kutamba, Kuchina !!

Postscript: As an extra display in the craft tent for Culture Month 2025, next to the NGZ craft table, I was thrilled to be able to provide transport for some friends, master art crafters from Mahenye Community, where we live; Enock Nyamayawo, (basketry and fishtrap), Blessing Runodada and Susan Sithole (beadwork). Present also was our dear friend, elegant Mr Manyaya from Gudo, a master craftsman who makes woven and dyed hats from lala palm …..Clive and I have worn his wonderful hats constantly since 1997 when we first met him.

History was made showcasing these truly unique crafts such as beaded jewellery, woven vine baskets and mats, traditional lala palm brooms/mutsvairo (svielo), from the Xangana (Changana) Mahenye community in Zimbabwe, South East lowveld, with the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe – NACZ and The National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

The crafts were noticed and admired by every level of viewer, all the way up to the President of Zimbabwe, who could not resist holding and learning about the traditional fish trap supplied by Enock Nyamavawa, and made at Mahenye. Here are Napoleon Nyanhi of NACZ and His Excellency, The President of Zimbabwe, talk CULTURE, art and craft, at the Mahenye crafts stand ….

Lin and Mr Napoleon Nhyani, at Rusununguko, for Culture Month.. and what a fabulous cowhide suit Mr Nhyani is wearing, tradition fused into FashionArt!

Johnson Zuze, Spider and Wasp, a ‘dance’ of life and death.….was shown at NGZ Miniatures exhibition and at Culture Month, Rusununguko…. celebrating the dance a spider-hunting wasp does when preying on the spiders it needs to nurture its eggs into a new generation of wasps…truly a Dance of life and death, recycling, regeneration….

Kelli Barker showed , “HARROWED, BE THY NAME 2; Fire Dance; Tribal Dance‘, a limited edition Art Print, A1 size, (previously shown at Burnt Offerings Collective, Pikicha Gallery, 2023) And note the sparkling, jeweled and encrusted skin art that make up and body artist Kelli has adorned her wonderful model Farai Chigudu with, a theme repeated in the jeweled snail shells she created for me to use in the Caged Culture art assemblage….

Watch this space as we dance together into 2026…. Let’s Dance, Kudzana, Kutamba, Kuchina !!

I will develop my dance sketches into larger abstracts, some made with my traditional broom brushes and lala palm fronds, that I love using!

Mark-making, Dancing into 2026, with my traditional broom brush (mutsvairo) made from lala palm fronds the village of Mahenye.

Kelli and Johnson, my fellow collectives, are also pursuing dance themes in their art practice as 2026 beckons us to DANCE, to create RHYTHM, make MUSIC, make ART and CREATE fearlessly!…

Let’s Dance, Kudzana, Kutamba, Kuchina !!…

Note: All photos are property of Lin Barrie unless otherwise stated..