We speak to our good friend, Zimbabwean born artist Ronald Muchatuta. We first met Ronald a while back, he was at our launch event exhibiting some of his illustrations, so this interview has been years in the making.

CN: Please introduce yourself?

Ronald Muchatuta: My name is Ronald Muchatuta, a Zimbabwean born artist currently residing in Cape Town, South Africa.

CN: What’s been your journey like?

Ronald Muchatuta: I have been an artist for the longest I have known. Wasn’t fortunate, went to Art School with nothing and had to rub shoulders with the cool kids with all the material one could need. Just a heart full of passion. I think that’s what keeps me going right until now.

CN: Talk us through art career and what stories you telling?

Ronald Muchatuta: I worked in a pottery company called Ros Byrne Pottery in 2001. My break was when I approached Helen Lieroes – owner of Gallery Delta. At that time she was close affiliates with the owner of Ros Byrne Pottery in Ruwa. I was one of the lucky generation to be mentored by Helen Lieroes at Gallery Delta through 2002-2004. I am a superb Draughtsman. That’s what I was told since in Art classes and that’s partly where my strength as an Artist comes from.

I struggle with writing my thoughts down. It’s like labour, I prefer sketching my thoughts out – feels more like a conversation I have with my pencils, charcoal etc.

I remember growing up in Bulawayo and Zvishavane. My dad used to by The Newspaper called – the city chronicles. There were always cartoons at the back, I would cut them out and stick them to the wall, till my bedroom wall became a mess.

From primary school I started drawing from cartoons and magazines, I would end up sticking the drawings on the wall. In boarding school it was the same case. At Gallery Delta they just Natured what existed in me already. I came to South Africa in 2007. I came to pursue a career as an artist. I have been a full time practicing Artist since.

2010 I made a conscious decision to learn a foreign medium – Mosaic. I am fascinated by sculpture and I felt that mosaic could be an ability that I could extend my ready thoughts, from drawing to Painting to Mosaic, they are just genres of art that I just channel my ideas and emotions.

My stories have always been of African context. The issues we deal with or folk tales that we grew up hearing as kids.

Currently I have gone through a metamorphoses where I am questioning African migration due to the recent xenophobic attacks that transpired in South Africa. That’s what I am working on at the moment.

CN: What are your thoughts on Cape Town, SA & Africa’s creative especially art scene?

Ronald Muchatuta: It’s much of a mixed pot, can be inspiring, sometimes boring and dead. Only problem I have is most artists separate themselves from their work. The Attempt of people using their personal lives as material for their art is lacking. That’s one thing I have seen that separates South African Art with the rest of its regional counterparts. I guess here Art is a vehicle of power to voice out opinions on certain matters.

The issue I have is when the masses tend to have the same voice and then a lack of versatility in material. The association with one narrative or stereotype is very prevalent. It’s either “Black Artist” or “township Artist”.

In that whole mix you get to appreciate certain gems that break such boxes or stereotypes.

CN: Who some of the fellow young artists/creatives you looking at?

Ronald Muchatuta: You mean young or old?

That’s a hard one, I appreciate artists who are purists. Who put in work? The young ones are still learning trying to perfect their craft. Too many to mention. They know, I always pay my respects to them.

CN: What’s do you think young people need in terms of helping them along in their creative journey?

Ronald Muchatuta: I think young people need to learn more from the ones that came before them. They are a better version of the ones that came before them. If you look at it there is nothing more important than now. We are all the better version of the past, but if we look in to the past there is a certain wisdom we need to push forward. Opportunities were limited in the past but they did what they can to push through, these days the youngins want to catch trends. I think following trends is a creative death.

CN: You are from Zimbabwe, how are you finding SA?

Ronald Muchatuta: All Africans who choose to migrate or try to have a better life here don’t consider that they inherit the struggles that come with this land. I don’t know if they are aware. I love the diversity and the open mindedness that the society has. It gives much of a variety I must say.

CN: What’s next on your plate?

Ronald Muchatuta: Currently preparing for the “African Art Fair” in Paris / France this October 2015. While that is happening I am making work that addresses of African Migration and the issues Africans face migrating with in the continent and beyond.

CN: What does creativity mean to you?

Ronald Muchatuta: Creativity is a Devine feeling, I put it in the same category as the 5 senses that beings possess. Creativity is a 6th Sense for me. I tap into a realm that helps me create and define things the way I can possibly can.

Content by creativenestlings.com