Dexter Nyamainasche
Zimbabwe, 1968
Dexter Nyamainasche was born in 1968 in Chiweshe (Zimbabwe). He currently lives and works in the Northern suburb of Harare. In 2003 he started combining various small sculptures he made to create what he described as the “Global Village of Peace” or the “United Global Village”. Dexter uses discarded objects to craft miniature characters, their homes and surroundings. All elements are set in motion by a complex system of wires that Dexter hides within the bottom of his sculptures. “United Global Villages” always narrate a different story: they may represent a specific African nation, culture or tribe or serve as a generalized vision of our world. Attached to the sculpture are stickers that give particular indications about the tribe, country or geographic marker. Dexter often incorporates symbols of peace in his work. These can be cut-outs of posters and magazines or handwritten messages. He says that he promotes peace and tolerance because of the troubling direction the world seems to have taken. In his sculptures, the proximity of Western and African nations reveals Nyamainasche’s desire for the blurring of borders.
