Editorial: The Creative Defiance of Chaz Maviyane-Davies

I got to know Chaz Maviyane-Davies in the mid-nineties when I was with Media for Development Trust, an NGO involved in the making for films for development. We hit off just like that and spent many hours talking about anything under the sun but mostly books, films and politics. We were also both so much into Oliver Mtukudzi’s music and I think we made our fair contribution to Tuku’s bank account.

Then as now, Chaz was driven by a sense of outrage at injustice. Whether that injustice was at the level of the working person, or at national or global levels, he felt it deeply. In 2000 Chaz had to leave Zimbabwe – as he headed for the US, I was heading for South Africa. Our country had changed fundamentally – for the worse. Years later, I look back at Chaz’s corpus of work and I am struck by that same sense of commitment to a free Zimbabwe and a free world. From his seminal 15-minute film, After the Wax, to his latest graphical work, Chaz’s meta-theme remains FREEDOM – freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, freedom from torture, freedom from hunger – freedom to be free! “Creative defiance” is what he terms the motivation in his work.
A week ago I asked Chaz if I could re-publish a selected number of his graphic images and he readily agreed. For that I am most grateful. The graphic images span the period of 2000-2007 and they were created mostly in response to the violent Zimbabwean elections of 2000, 2002 and 2008. Please see more of Chaz’s work on his website (www.maviyane.com).

In the post below Chaz’s work…

Chris Kabwato (kumbirayi@gmail.com)

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