Portia Zvavahera — Like Flowers We Fade: solo exhibition at Fondazione

Portia Zvavahera — Like Flowers We Fade

When: 29/04/2026 - 01/11/2026

Where: Fondazione Memmo, Rome

Fondazione Memmo presents Portia Zvavahera’s first institutional exhibition in Italy, Like Flowers We Fade. The show features a site-specific installation created for the Foundation’s spaces and a new body of paintings developed during the artist’s residency in Rome. The project highlights a recent phase in Zvavahera’s practice where autobiographical elements intersect with reflections on memory, loss and transcendence.

Zvavahera’s work transforms intimate experience into layered pictorial scenarios: dreamlike figures, ornamental patterns and built-up surfaces address universal themes such as life, death, love and mourning. Her working methods combine drawing, gestural painting and printmaking techniques, employing hand-cut stencils and repeated motifs to create depth, rhythm and visual movement.

Highlights

• Site-specific installation conceived for the Fondazione Memmo spaces.
• New paintings produced after the Rome residency, focused on bereavement and oneiric visions.
• Layered surfaces featuring expressive brushwork, woodcut elements and ornamental repetition.

The exhibition emphasizes the connection between Zvavahera’s cultural background—particularly the Shona language—and her use of painting as a medium for revelation and catharsis. The works present spectral figures in states of ecstasy, transformation or emotional tension, offering an immersive, contemplative experience.

Who should visit

• Contemporary art audiences and enthusiasts of experimental painting.
• Visitors interested in exhibitions with a strong narrative and personal dimension.
• Cultural professionals exploring projects born from artist residencies and site-specific commissions.

Practical note: check Fondazione Memmo’s official channels for opening times, ticketing and guided visits. The exhibition provides a close look at Zvavahera’s layering techniques and the interplay between personal imagination and cultural references.

Short bio: Born in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, Portia Zvavahera lives and works internationally. Her painting practice is characterized by richly patterned, layered surfaces and an ongoing investigation into emotional and spiritual aspects of human experience. Her work has been shown internationally and is included in several public and private collections.