Year completed: 2021
Dimensions: 24” x 36”
Medium: One color Screenprint

Kusina Mai/ Kusina Mai Futi (2021) letterforms are created with a system of modularity that can be interchained to produce a range of patterns and variable characters. A range of full character sets have been developed that have different characteristics, like a typeface family with a collections of styles, extended, oblique, bold, regular. This formal experimentation can be seen in various iterations across Mutiti’s long term research project RUKA (to knit/ to braid/ to weave) which draws parallels between African hair braiding practices and digital images making processes. Mutiti uses  the resulting forms to speak to the realities of African immigration and community building as and other resilience practices of the diaspora.  

The title of  the work is taken from a Chivanhu saying, Kusina mai hakuwndwi, often spoken to young people as an important nugget of wisdom. Directly translated Kusina mai hakuendwi means “You do not go where your mother is not.” The actual application is a warning against being in a place like a foriegn land without the necessary support of people that would protect and encourage one. Here Mutiti directly reflects on her own experience as an immigrant who has lived away from home for just over a decade and whose family exists across different continents. During this moment where travel is restricted, Mutiti has spent the most time away from her home Zimbabwe since leaving in 2012. During this time she installed a mural work with one part at STABLE in DC and the other part in Harare. The print is directly inspired by this attempt to connect to home through collaborating with artists and art spaces in her hometown at a time where returning home to visit  is difficult. 

These diptychs are an edition of 30 and were produced at the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop.

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EFA - Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop

EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop (RBPMW) is a co-operative printmaking workspace that provides professional-quality printmaking facilities to artists and printmakers of every skill level. We are committed to inspiring and fostering a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse artistic community dedicated to the making of fine art prints in an environment that embraces technical and aesthetic exploration, innovation and collaboration.