A landmark satellite exhibition tracing Romania’s overlooked role in Zimbabwe’s liberation and the enduring politics of artistic solidarity
Paul Gwichir, Untitled, 1970. Green Serpentine, 43 x 16 x 28cm. Courtesy of Gunter Péus Collection.
Catinca Tabacaru Gallery has opened the satellite exhibition ‘Have No Doubt of the Omnipotence of a Free People’ at POINT, Bucharest, expanding upon the research project first presented at Galeria Catinca Tabacaru on 30 October. The exhibition opens to the public on 7 November 2025 at 19:00, and will remain on view across both venues until 28 February 2026.
Curated by Raphael Guilbert, the project explores Romania’s active support for anti-colonial liberation movements, focusing on its decisive yet often overlooked role in Zimbabwe’s struggle for independence during the 1970s. Through newly uncovered archival materials, oral histories, and works by over 60 artists, the exhibition examines how artistic production can act as an instrument of solidarity, remembrance, and critique.
At POINT, the exhibition expands on the project’s material and conceptual core, presenting new artworks and historical documents that trace the cultural and political entanglements between Romania and Zimbabwe. It interrogates how creative production reflected and continues to reinterpret the connections between post-communist and postcolonial realities, revealing how artistic vocabularies respond to and reshape the narratives of freedom, resistance, and transformation.
A cross-continental dialogue
The 67-artist exhibition establishes a multigenerational dialogue between Romanian modernists, neo-avant-garde figures, and Zimbabwean artists whose practices emerged from or reflect on the liberation struggle. Romanian artists such as Ion Bitzan, Geta Brătescu, Ion Grigorescu, Ana Lupaș, Wanda Mihuleac, and Mihai Olos—central figures who defied the aesthetic and ideological constraints of the communist regime—appear alongside Zimbabwean masters Thomas Mukarobgwa, Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Sylvester Mubayi, and Joseph Ndandarika, whose work was shaped by the urgency of independence and the cultural exchange supported by Romania.
Contemporary voices, including Tapfuma Gutsa, Nona Inescu, Hortensia Mi Kafchin, Ciprian Mureșan, Terrence Musekiwa, Kresiah Mukwazhi, Gareth Nyandoro, Ștefan Sava, Șerban Savu, Felix Shumba, Mark Verlan, and Portia Zvavahera, revisit these intertwined legacies. Their works question what remains of the solidarities that once connected the socialist East and the decolonising South, and how these connections might inform today’s global struggles for justice and self-determination.
Remembering solidarities, rethinking freedom
‘Have No Doubt of the Omnipotence of a Free People’ probes the cultural afterlives of political solidarity. It considers how art both reflected and contested state narratives, how it functioned simultaneously as propaganda and critique, and how artists today are reclaiming and reinterpreting these historical ties. The exhibition situates creative expression within the broader matrix of ideological transformation, inviting reflection on how the imaginaries of freedom that once united distant nations continue to reverberate today.
By juxtaposing historical and contemporary practices, the project creates a polyphonic narrative in which ideological fervour, cultural production, and lived experience resonate across generations. These intersections reveal how history is remembered, repressed, or reactivated—opening a space to reconsider the complex relationships between Eastern Europe and Africa within global art history.
Upcoming symposium
A symposium will take place at POINT from 20 to 22 November 2025, gathering curators, artists, and scholars to explore further the shared histories between Romania and Zimbabwe, as well as the broader connections between Eastern Europe and Africa. The programme will examine how these relationships have evolved within both historical and contemporary artistic contexts, highlighting the continuing relevance of transnational solidarity in the cultural sphere.
‘Have No Doubt of the Omnipotence of a Free People’ runs across Galeria Catinca Tabacaru and POINT, Bucharest, until 28 February 2026. For more information, visit catincatabacaru.com.
