Pardon Mapondera (b. 1992, Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe), is a full time artist currently living and working in Cape Town, South Africa.
His textile works fashioned from plastic bottles, straws and thread ruminates on the burgeoning ecological crisis that is set to displace swathes of people in the coming decades. While Mapondera’s works acknowledge the presence of manmade waste, they also offer a view for an alternative future where these materials can form part of the climate crisis solution. Mapondera is able to create beauty from that which has been discarded, perhaps a metaphor for humanity’s ability to forge new beginnings from the shortcomings of the past. He proposes, “Artists are the eye of the world, we make futures and are the justice warriors. We look forwards and backwards. We have the ability to change things. Art reveals the truth”.
Growing up in Zimbabwe, his education was affected by Zimbabwe’s economic and political upheavals, but he persevered and completed his education. He applied at the National Gallery Visual Art and Design (former British American Tobacco School of Art) after being encouraged to do so by his brother and mentor, the well-established visual artist Wallen Mapondera, and successfully graduated in 2016.
He is represented in a number of prominent collections, both in Africa and Europe, and received awards and recognition for his work.
In August 2020, Pardon Mapondera was a runner-up in The Emergence Art Prize, which was organised by THK Gallery with support from Rand Merchant Bank.