Dande is a memory and a fable, a translation and a portal, a place that exists nowhere – only here and somewhere.

Ndafunga Dande (Thoughts of Home) resides in that here and somewhere. It is a space where megalithic boulders, suspended fruits, and elements of vernacular Shona architecture open a broader conversation about place, materiality, and storytelling. The exhibition is a grouping of labour-intensive, hand-built ceramic sculptures, alongside an audio composition which investigates the ways in which alternate histor(ies) are built and transmitted. This work is part of the artist’s ongoing inquiry into notions of sustenance and permanence such as: What kinds of remembrance does clay make possible? Where and what gets to be remembered? Can repetition keep a person, place or thing alive?

Ndafunga Dande is a line from the song Dzoka Uyamwe by musician Oliver Mtukudzi. “Dzoka Uyamwe,” literally translated from ChiShona means “come back to suckle.” The song tells the story of an emigrant who has travelled far from his ancestral home (Dande) and his mother suggests he returns home to where he is loved and missed.