ANTANANARIVO
AUGUST 2 - SEPTEMBER 30, 2023
Georgin Maxim describes herself as a mother and a woman of many roles. She is both artist and curator. Her textile art focuses on memory, which she attempts top reserve through the use of worn garments and their personal dimension. She views clothing as a second skin, a means of expressing individual and collective identity. She collects clothes and combines them, sews them together and cuts them into pieces. She also explores healing through sewing and stitching and allows herself to be carried away by the tactile and imaginary sensations provided by pieces of fabric. She works with mixed textiles collected from women’s clothing, mainly dresses, wool, lace, buttons and even dolls. Georgina Maxim’s work focuses mainly on memory, healing and the search for a distinct woman she says she “knows very well, without having met her”.
Currently in a research residency at Fondation H, she admires Madame Zo’s ability to pushthe boundaries of weaving to create inspirational works. She stresses theimportance of enriching oneself by observing other artists and learning fromtheir achievements.
GEORGINA MAXIM'S BIOGRAPHY
Textile artist Georgina Maxim works as both artist and curator. In 2012, sheco-founds Village Unhu, an artist-run space in Harare that provides studio spaces, exhibitions, workshops and residency programs. After graduating from the University of Chinhoyi, she teaches visual arts for several years at Prince Edward School and manages at the same time the Galerie Delta, the historical contemporary art gallery in Harare.
Georgina Maxim simultaneously developed her artistic work by turning to textiles, using embroidery, sewing and weaving techniques to deconstruct, cut and recompose second-hand garments. In this way, she creates singular works that elude definitions: the artist herself describes her work as an act of memory, a transcription of the moment, the moments lived, and the stories told by these used pieces of clothing.
In 2018, Georgina Maxim is nominated for the Henrike Grohs Award (Goethe Institute, Abidjan). Her work is exhibited in Zimbabwe (Gallery Delta, National Gallery of Zimbabwe) and in other international venues (Mojo Gallery in Dubai, Sulger Buell Gallery in London, Goethe Institute in Salvadorde Bahia).
In 2019, Georgina Maxim presents an installation for the Zimbabwe pavilion at the 58ème Biennale de Venise. In the same year, she takes a master’s degree at University of Bayreuth to deepen her curatorial practice. She also undertakes a several-month creative residency at the Goethe Institute in Salvador de Bahia.
In 2020, she exhibits at the Musée Bargoin (Clermont-Ferrand). She presents her work at the FRAC Nouvelle-Aquitaine in 2021, and at the MuCAT in Abidjan and at Somerset House in London in 2022. In 2023, her work will be presented at the HKW in Berlin as part of the exhibition O Quilombismo.
[Source : https://www.31project.com]