Penny Siopis and the Many Journeys of Skokiaan
National Gallery of Zimbabwe, 2019
“It was a gathering of artistic energies from all over Zimbabwe to engage in dialogue with world renowned artist from South Africa, Penny Siopis. An Honorary Professor at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, she is represented in South Africa by Stevenson Gallery. The time: Wednesday 12 June to Friday, 14 June 2019. The place: National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo.”
~ Tafadzwa Gwetai
The Open Studio Workshop at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe was a three-day artist-led programme held in 2019 that brought together emerging and established artists from Bulawayo and Harare for a period of creative exchange, experimentation and collective learning. Facilitated by South African artist Penny Siopis, the workshop encouraged participants to work with limited materials and found objects, exploring new approaches to image-making, storytelling and meaning-making. The programme culminated in a public exhibition of works produced by participants, creating a platform for dialogue between artists, audiences and the wider creative community. Building on Zimbabwe’s rich history of artist workshops, the project fostered artistic development, knowledge-sharing and community-building through collaborative practice
My role encompassed both project management and facilitation support for the workshop, while separately serving as Artist Assistant to Siopis during the installation of her concurrent solo exhibition at the gallery. For the workshop, I coordinated participant logistics, communications, scheduling, materials and day-to-day operations, helping to create an environment that was accessible, collaborative and responsive to the needs of the artists involved. I also supported the facilitation process, assisting with workshop activities and ensuring the smooth delivery of the programme from planning through to the final exhibition of participant work. Alongside this, I assisted Siopis with exhibition-related logistics and installation support for her solo exhibition, which ran independently but concurrently with the workshop.
This project reflects my broader understanding of artistic practice as cultural work—where production, facilitation and relationship-building become tools for fostering community, exchange and shared creative growth.