Komborerai Chapfika

Born in Harare/Zimbabwe in 1981, where he also grew up.

Kombo Chapfika is a Zimbabwean multi-disciplinary artist who studied in Atlanta/US, obtaining a BA in Economics (2006).

Chapfika’s work explores the mutation of contemporary African culture as it adapts to modernity and technological inter-connectedness. Curiosity, experimentation, and social commentary are essential to his creative process, which is based on an interest in the interplay of technology and culture and how the tools we use reshape us.

This focus has grown as Chapfika became more aware of his own complex relationship with technology and all its psycho-social and physical effects. It is a rich topic which touches on the intimately personal all the way to the global and inter-generational.

Chapfika’s curiosity for creative technology, coupled with appreciation for contemporary African culture, has been pivotal to forming his world view. He has worked in animation, advertising, broadcast, web development, and fine art. This range has helped to develop his artistic practice, technical base, and creative direction. His hybrid aesthetic echoes his personal journey, the ongoing cultural remixing brought on by globalization and mobility. Chapfika creates art which expresses the immense potential and current dire straits of Zimbabwe and Africa at large.

Kombo Chapfika’s past awards and residencies include Plato’s Cave, a commission for Emory University’s Schwartz Arts Center, Atlanta (2008); the Zimbabwean National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) for the Best Music Video 2017 (Over Again, by Vee Mukarati) and the Sundance Inter-disciplinary Program Grant (2021).

A few of his past shows include We Were Where, TMRW Gallery, Keyes Art Mile, Johannesburg/South Africa (2019); Salad, Village Unhu, Harare (2016) and Digital Imaginaries: Africas in Production, ZKM Karlsruhe/Germany (2018‒2019).