Owen Maseko, Baleka (Triptych), 2010
Acrylic on canvas
93.5 x 50 cm (visible)
Condition: Good
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Owen Maseko (Zimbabwean, b. 1975) is a visual and installation artist, described as one of Zimbabwe's most prominent artists. He is known for his hard-hitting paintings and his open defiance of the regime of the late dictator Robert Mugabe. In 2010, he was arrested after the opening of his new exhibition at the National Gallery in Bulawayo due to his works critiquing the massacres of Ndebele civilians during the Gukurahundi in the 1980s. This painting depicts the same subject matter.
As the Supreme Court permanently banned Maseko’s exhibition from being shown anywhere in Zimbabwe, his works were predominantly exhibited internationally for more than a decade. This painting has been exhibited in New York, Sarajevo and Mumbai, usually against a red wall as per the artist’s intention.
This triptych is titled ‘Baleka’ which means to run or to flee in Ndebele and Xhosa, both official languages of Zimbabwe. Maseko uses his art to break the silence surrounding the ‘hidden history’ of Zimbabwe, expressing the conflict through graffiti-style paintings in his signature red and black paint.
(Photographed in January 2025)