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Moffat Takadiwa: Recoded Memories

Pregnant Picasso Bull (detail), 2024, Moffat Takadiwa. Zimbabwean bank notes encased in bottle caps, calculator, and computer keys. 107 1/8 x 50 x 2 3/8 in. Image courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.

Moffat Takadiwa: Recoded Memories

Moffat Takadiwa: Pregnant Picasso Bull

On View: October 24, 2025 – May 31, 2026
Location: Watson Galleries
Save the Date: Artist Talk and Reception, Thursday, October 23, 2025, 5:30 - 8 pm
Image (left): Pregnant Picasso Bull, 2024, (detail) Moffat Takadiwa. Courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.

Moffat Takadiwa: Recoded Memories invites viewers into an immersive landscape of transformation and material rebirth. Presented by the W&L Art Museum and Galleries, this solo exhibition showcases the work of Zimbabwean artist Moffat Takadiwa (b. 1983), whose expansive sculptural installations repurpose discarded materials into intricate, tapestry-like forms. Working with objects such as computer keys, plastic bottles, and VHS tapes, Takadiwa transforms technological debris and detritus into meditations on memory, language, and the traces of human consumption. Recoded Memories urges us to reconsider the environmental and cultural imprints of everyday life, inviting us to reflect on the life cycle of materials and the global systems that shape what is used, valued, and ultimately discarded. 

The exhibition is guest curated by Clement Akpang, assistant professor of art history at The George Washington University, in collaboration with , Rachel Du from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Meaghan Walsh, the Art Museum’s Louise C. Herreshoff Curatorial Fellow for American Art. 

Recoded Memories is made possible thanks to the generous contributions made by W&L’s Department of Art and Art History, the Class of 1963 Scholars in Residence Program, and the university’s Museum Art Fund.

Pregnant Picasso Bull, 2024, Moffat Takadiwa. Zimbabwean bank notes encased in bottle caps, calculator, and computer keys. 107 1/8 x 50 x 2 3/8 in. Image courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.
Pregnant Picasso Bull, 2024, Moffat Takadiwa. Zimbabwean bank notes encased in bottle caps, calculator, and computer keys. 107 1/8 x 50 x 2 3/8 in. Image courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.
Pregnant Picasso Bull (detail), 2024, Moffat Takadiwa. Zimbabwean bank notes encased in bottle caps, calculator, and computer keys. 107 1/8 x 50 x 2 3/8 in. Image courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.
Pregnant Picasso Bull (detail), 2024, Moffat Takadiwa. Zimbabwean bank notes encased in bottle caps, calculator, and computer keys. 107 1/8 x 50 x 2 3/8 in. Image courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.
Pregnant Picasso Bull (detail), 2024, Moffat Takadiwa. Zimbabwean bank notes encased in bottle caps, calculator, and computer keys. 107 1/8 x 50 x 2 3/8 in. Image courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.
Pregnant Picasso Bull (detail), 2024, Moffat Takadiwa. Zimbabwean bank notes encased in bottle caps, calculator, and computer keys. 107 1/8 x 50 x 2 3/8 in. Image courtesy of Nicodim Gallery.

About the Artist and Curator

Moffat Takadiwa (b. 1983, Karoi) lives and works in Harare, Zimbabwe. A prominent voice from Zimbabwe’s post-independence generation, Takadiwa transforms post-consumer waste — computer keyboards, bottle tops, toothbrushes, and toothpaste tubes — into lush, densely layered sculptures and tapestry-like wall works. His practice centers his Korekore heritage while exploring themes of consumerism, inequality, post-colonialism, and environmental decay.

Takadiwa’s work has been exhibited widely, including Second Life, Nicodim, New York (2025, solo); Tukku Magi: Rhythm’s, Latvian Museum of Art, Riga (2025); in the 60th Venice Biennale (Foreigners Everywhere, 2024); mumok, Vienna (Avantgarde & Liberation, 2024); and the Orange County Museum of Art (Color is the First Revelation of the World, 2024). Recent solo exhibitions include Second Life (2025) and Feeling Without Touching (2023) at Nicodim Gallery, New York; Possible New Dawn (2024) at Nicodim Annex, Los Angeles; and Vestiges of Colonialism (2023–2024) at Galeria Nicodim in Bucharest (Romania) and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare.

His works are held in major collections including the Centre National des Arts Plastiques (Paris), the Collection of Art of European Parliament (Brussels), and the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. He is represented by Nicodim Gallery.

Takadiwa is the founder of , a visionary artist-led hub housed in a repurposed colonial-era beer hall in Harare’s Mbare township. Once a center of Zimbabwean cultural life and political organizing, Mbare now hosts a vibrant arts community. Through Mbare Art Space, Takadiwa provides studio space, mentorship, education, and public programming, creating a model for socially and ecologically engaged cultural infrastructure. Inspired by global precedents such as Theaster Gates’ Stony Island Arts Bank, the space serves as a platform for emerging artists working with found and recycled materials.

View the Artist-in-Residence Program webpage.

Clement Akpang, assistant professor of art history at Corcoran School of the Arts & Design at The George Washington University,  specializes in modern African art and material culture from the 1900s. In recent years, his publications have focused on de-Westernizing African art scholarship and exploring African artistic modernisms. He has published two monographs: Nigerian Modernism 1900-1965: Anti-Europeanization, Nationalism, and Avant-garde Art (2019) and Analyzing Art: A Short Guide to Art Appreciation, Criticism and Research in Visual Arts (2020). His interest also includes interrogating Eurocentrism in found object art discourse, deracializing museums and museology. Akpang has held research fellowships at the Institute for Advanced Study, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, and the Filozofická Fakulta, Univerzita Komenskeho, Bratislava, Slovakia. He has guest lectured at numerous universities in Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia. He has taught at two universities in Nigeria, in addition to his current assistant professorship.

Events & Programming

Moffat Takadiwa

Recoded Memories Artist Talk & Opening Reception

A Conversation with Moffat Takadiwa and Sandy de Lissovoy
Thursday, October 23, 2025, 5:30 – 8 p.m.

Artist Talk at 5:30 pm (in-person and livestreamed), Ruscio Center for Global Learning
Opening Reception at 6:30 pm, Watson Galleries

Join us for an evening with artist Moffat Takadiwa and Sandy de Lissovoy, associate professor of art at W&L, as they engage in a conversation exploring the themes and processes behind Recoded Memories. The discussion will delve into material transformation, environmental impact, and the relationship between art and global systems of consumption. They will be joined by Clement Akpang, guest curator of the exhibition and assistant professor of art history at The George Washington University.

A reception with wine and hors d’oeuvres will begin at 6:30 pm in Watson Galleries, offering visitors the opportunity to explore the exhibition and meet the artist until 8 pm.

Seats are limited, and pre-registration is required.