Masimba Hwati

Beinecke Short-Term Fellow

Summer 2025-2026

Masimba Hwati is an artist originally from Harare, Zimbabwe, who works internationally in sculpture, sound, performance, and video. He holds a PhD from the Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria, and an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A 2019 Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture graduate, Hwati also studied sculpture at the Harare Polytechnic School in Harare, Zimbabwe. His work may be found in collections internationally, including The Philharmonie de Paris; Darlene M. Perez Art Collection in Miami, Florida; University of Michigan Museum of Art; Iziko-South African National Gallery; George R. Nnamdi, Detroit Michigan; Scott White Contemporary, San Diego; Leridon & Gervanne, National Gallery of Zimbabwe; and Manchester Contemporary. During the 56th Venice Biennale, Hwati exhibited at the Zimbabwean Pavilion, and he participated in the 2021 British Textile Biennale. In Grahamstown, South Africa, he is an honorary research fellow at Rhodes University. His special projects and solo shows have been exhibited in England, Lagos, Belgium, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Germany, the United States, France, and Canada. He is the author of Der Seeteufel: And Other Alien Species in the Mysteriously Dark Labyrinths of the Danube (2022) and Sokunge (As if) (2021). His albums include: Root Leaf (Collapsing Drums, 2025); Hwati Collino (Alien Passengers, 2022); and Lakenights (Alien Passengers, 2019). At the Clark, Hwati will continue work on a new book, titled Chidzimbahwe Sonic Philosophies.