"The residue in the old shoes becomes the extension of the owner."
Tawanda Takura (b. 1989, Zimbabwe) is a mixed-media sculptor based in Chitungwiza, Harare. Trained as a shoemaker, he takes apart discarded shoes and expertly reassembles them into figurative sculptures, giving new life to objects that carry the biographies of their owners: in the residue left behind he senses a present but absent body. His personal iconography turns every component into language, the sole as soul, the heel as manhood and healing, the stiletto as both feminism and weapon, the tongue as spoken word and spiritual utterance, in a body of work that questions identity, spirituality and the social and religious structures of his community. Winner of the Cassirer Welz Award, South Africa (2024), and of a National Annual Merit Award, Zimbabwe (2024), he held his first solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (2023) and completed a residency at the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Italy (2025). He lives and works in Chitungwiza.