Kudzanai Chiurai

Kudzanai Chiurai
Born	1981 (age 35–36) Harare, Zimbabwe
Nationality	Zimbabwean
Alma mater	University of Pretoria
Known for	painting, drawing, film, sculpture, photographs
Notable work	Graceland, Since 1990, Fela, Iyeza
Style	mixed media

Kudzanai Chiurai (born 1981) is a Zimbabwean artist and activist. His repertoire of art combines the use of mixed media to address and tackle social, political and cultural issues in Zimbabwe. Since his first solo exhibition in 2003, his artworks have been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and documenta in Kassel, Germany. Forbes listed him among "Thirteen Africans To Watch In 2013".

Chiurai was born in 1981 in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, but spent most of his later years in South Africa where he became the first black student to graduate with a bachelor's degree in Fine Art from the University of Pretoria.

He started his career by painting landscapes and portraits until he left his country for South Africa where he developed interest in using art as a form of activism. In 2004, Chiurai went on a self-imposed exile after he received arrest threats following his exhibition of Rau Rau and the Battle of Zimbabwe, two controversial artworks that depicted Robert Mugabe as a demonic figure during the build-up to the 2008 Zimbabwean general election.

In 2012, his short still film Iyeza was screened at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Several of his works have sold in the art market including his painting Fried Chicken which sold for $9,447 at Stephan Welz & Co., Cape Town 'Decorative & Fine Arts' in 2013.

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