Natasha Muluswela

Painting (MA)

Without Us, There Is No You. Graphite, Gouache, Pencils and Dry Pigment on Paper 180 x 100cm 2025 — Without Us, There is No You, explores the ethereal presence of spirituality through ancestral figures of the mother, guider and protector. The two nude figures in black and white, holding traditional staffs stand still frozen in time. Together they stand in power contrasted with the light to dark ghostly tone of the background. The work on paper framed using metallic bars and magnets, offers a moment of contemplation for viewer. Who are they? What are they here to do?

My Bones Will Rise Again, 2025. Oil and Dry Pigment on Canvas, 170 x 160cm — My Bones Will Rise Again, explores my identity as a Zimbabwean woman by channeling my ancestor, Ambuya Nehanda—a powerful spirit medium executed by British colonists. Over a century later, her skull remains in the UK, displayed as a war trophy. Her last words echo: “Take my bones home.” I pose nude, wrapped in the British flag, symbolizing both vulnerability and colonial legacy. Beside me stand two black-and-white male figures who played roles in her execution. Behind us is the broken tree she was hanged from, now just a coloured stump—what remains. I am rendered in colour, alive in the present; the past is drained of colour, fading. The fallen tree mirrors my own disconnection as a refugee—uprooted from my land, my people, my history. Her story and mine cross. I, too, am crying to return home. May her bones, and all that was taken, one day be brought back.

I’ve Never Kissed A Black Girl Before, 2022. Graphite on Paper, 41 x 44cm — I’ve Never Kissed a Black Woman Before, part of a series of drawings explores themes of misogyny, racism, and sexual harassment. Inspired by Ousmane Sembene’s 1966 film La Noire de…, which I wrote my dissertation on, the piece reflects the legacy of domestic slavery and the powerlessness many women—myself included—have experienced. In the drawing, an elderly white man forces himself onto a younger Black domestic worker. Just before kissing her, he remarks, “I’ve never kissed a Black woman before”—reducing her to an object of fetish. Her expression is blank, but the discomfort is palpable. He ignores her unease to satisfy his own desires. This drawing puts a face to the feeling of harassment—a look many women, regardless of race, know too well. I used graphite to honour the black-and-white aesthetic of the original film, keeping the lines clean and deliberate to reflect the clarity of this emotional moment.

The Market, 2021. Graphite on Paper, 41 x 44cm — The Market, part of a series, depicts a white woman, her back turned to the viewer, scanning a group of six Black women seated on a curb—waiting to be chosen as maids. Inspired by a scene I witnessed and connected to broader themes of power and labour, the drawing reflects how domestic work is treated like a commodity. This practice remains common in parts of Africa, resembling a market—though the “goods” are human. The women wait with silent hope, wishing to be taken to Europe for better opportunities. Yet, many face exploitation, their dreams shadowed by harsh realities. I chose not to depict their faces, emphasizing their anonymity and reflecting the countless women who migrate for work, often disappearing into systems of quiet servitude. Rendered in graphite, the drawing echoes the black-and-white aesthetic of La Noire de…, honouring the film’s legacy while grounding my own commentary on labour, race, and migration.

About

Natasha Muluswela (b. 1995, Zimbabwe) is a visual artist whose practice is rooted in drawing and painting, with a focus on contemporary figuration that explores themes of identity, representation, and social justice. Her work engages critically with non-canonical approaches to art, drawing on frameworks of decolonisation, intersectionality, and marginalisation. Informed by her perspective as an African woman in the United Kingdom.

Working primarily through drawing and painting on paper, she begins each piece by envisioning and re-editing the outcome, often returning to sketches and building through repetitive, meditative motions with pencils, dry pigment, and graphite powder. Her process is both intuitive and intentional—merging the ancestral with the contemporary to weave diasporic stories into visual form. Her work seeks to render the invisible visible, inviting viewers to critically engage with the cultural and political dimensions of identity.
Muluswela articulates her broader vision as a “decolonisation of the conscious collective within the contemporary art frame.”

Her recent accolades include participation in the Nosakhari Able-Graphy exhibition (2024), and her inclusion in the Top Boy exhibition at Somerset House (2023), with her work acquired by the National Portrait Gallery. Her public sculpture for The World Reimagined is now part of the permanent art trail collection at the University of Reading. She has exhibited with Gucci Circolo as part of Home Presents Collective Process. Notable awards include the Acme Alternative Pathway Award (2022), The Other Art Fair: New Futures winner (2023), and the Young Masters Emerging Woman Artist Award (2023).

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