Born in Zimbabwe in 1994, lives and works in Harare.
The body and the narrative are central in Epheas Maposa's work: half-man, half-animal creatures, with strong lines, evolving in surrealist and baroque universes.
Each work delivers a narrative on the edge, mixing in a dreamlike vein, drawn details and colourful motifs. A prolific narrator, Epheas Maposa uses the distortion of bodies and spaces to create disillusioned stories about the decay of Zimbabwe's social and political structure.
Epheas Maposa is self-taught. Drawing on the street, his primary source of inspiration, he joined Village Unhu back in 2013 where he received space and materials to work and develop his practice alongside other artists of the collective. From 2014 he exhibited at the National gallery of Zimbabwe, as well as at the Delta Gallery.
In 2017, 2018 and 2020 he participated in the FNB Joburg art fair and Investec Cape Town art fair. He also took part in several residency programmes between Johannesburg and Harare.
In 2019 he was awarded the second Emerging painting pan African art prize.
CURRICULUM VITAE
SOLO SHOWS
2021
Smiles of clay, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
1-54, Paris, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
2020
Village Unhu, ICTAF Cape Town Art Fair – South Africa
GROUP SHOWS
2022
Village Unhu, ICTAF Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town - South Africa
2021
Self-Adressed, Jeffrey Deitch gallery, curator Kehinde Whiley,
Los Angeles - USA
Collective amnesia, Montague Contemporary, NY – USA
AKAA, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
2020
SMALL, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
Art Paris Art Fair, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
When you master your seat and you can get out, Village Unhu,
Harare – Zimbabwe
Group exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare, Zimbabwe
2019
We are here Pamasonga, 31 PROJECT, Paris – France
Sanity is expensive, but madness is for free, Village Unhu,
Harare – Zimbabwe
We move forward by looking back, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
2018
Wild Geese Exhibition, Harare – Zimbabwe
Village Unhu, ICTAF Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town – South Africa
100Hundred, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
2017
The Annual Young Artist Exhibitions, Gallery Delta, Harare - Zimbabwe
Group Exhibitions, Gallery Delta, Harare – Zimbabwe
FNB Johannesburg Art Fair, Johannesburg – South Africa
2016
The Annual Young Artist Exhibitions, Gallery Delta, Harare – Zimbabwe
Surface=Drawing, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
Jumping borders, 2 men show, Village Unhu, Harare, Zimbabwe and Eyethu Gallery, Soweto – South Africa
2015
The Annual Young Artist Exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare – Zimbabwe
Dama – Left or Right, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
Line to Form, Gallery Delta, Harare – Zimbabwe
Sold Out, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
Migration, Gallery Delta, Harare – Zimbabwe
Orgees, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
100Hundred, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
2014
Young Artist Exhibition, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare – Zimbabwe
The Annual Young Artist Exhibition, Gallery Delta, Harare – Zimbabwe
Way Finding, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
Hope Exhibition, Hope Shop, Harare – Zimbabwe
AWARDS
2019
Emerging Painting Invitation Pan African art prize – EAAGA,
Harare – Zimbabwe
2016
Artists Residency Studio Award, Village Unhu, Harare – Zimbabwe
RESIDENCIES
2016
Pro Helvetia Residency program Harare/Soweto,
Johannesburg – South Africa
Village Unhu Residency and exchange program Zim/UK
WITH 31 PROJECT
EXPOSITIONS
2021
2020
SMALL, group show
We are here Pamasonga, group show
FOIRES
2021
1-54, Paris, solo show
2020
Art Paris Art Fair, Paris, group show