Arin Francis

Angele Anderfuren

English 125

28 March 2022

The Art of Listening Closely

A dive into the raw perspective Masimba Hwati gives on the human experience

(word count 813)

Art often seems like it needs to be beautiful to be considered art – as if by nature it must

reflect our world in a way that is aesthetically pleasing in order to be esteemed. Masimba Hwati

disagrees. This Zimbabwe born artist reflects our world a little differently – with all its faults and

flaws. Perhaps this is what makes good art into great art; perhaps seeing our flaws reflected back

is exactly the art we all need.

In Ngoromera, his sculpture made of various brass instruments fit together around a

double-edged sword, Hwati begs us to see these flaws. Ngoromera’s main construction is clear:

with its brass instrument being what first draws the eye in and its extending spears what grab the

eye’s attention next. However, when gazed at further, one notices how it is not simply made of

one instrument, but many: having several of these wind instruments interwoven with bells and

chimes. Additionally, the eye begins to notice the sporadic multicolored golf balls along with the

tubing that drapes down from this suspended art piece.

When I first saw Ngoromera, I was drawn to consider the dichotomy between the

softness of music and the curves in the instruments next to the sharpness of the weapon and their

implied physical conflict. This dichotomy piqued my interest as music has always been a healing

force in my life and its superimposition over a weapon was striking for me. Immediately, I was
taken aback as seeing an instrument as a weapon was very foreign to me, but it made me start to

mull over the ways music can be corrupted, used for propaganda, and used to perpetuate systems

of power. The first example of this to come to my mind was the concept that throughout history,

war propaganda has been often spread through song.

It is these exact systems of power that Hwati wants us to confront. As a multimedia artist,

Hwati finds himself “interested in the flexible nature of sound and the way it bends itself around

obstacles, which he likens to the way individuals are forced to configure themselves around

dominant powers” (UMMA). Hwati reflects this concept in multiple ways throughout the piece:

in the tubing draped from the instrument which exists as the only non-rigid component of

Ngoromera, through the chaotic way the instruments connect but still seem meant to fit together,

and in the way that the instrument is distinctly interlocked with the weapon yet still succeeds to

make music. In an interview with fellow STAMPS graduate Mayella Rodriguez, Hwati mentions

that an important facet of the work is the way it’s suspended “because it's literally negotiating

itself between being on the ground and being on the wall or being on the roof” and that if it were

possible, he would’ve made the piece float unassisted to further this idea of negotiating through

space(On Ngoromera and Sculpture as Sound - In Conversation with Masimba Hwati). Each of

these aspects contribute to the dichotomy between beauty and destruction that runs through this

piece, as if to show the magnificence in the way humans navigate harmful forces.

Additionally, this dichotomy continues as the piece’s name and function come into play.

Ngoromera is a Shona word – Hwati’s first language – meaning to fight, which of course feels

very applicable when considering the way the piece considers the navigation of systems of

power. But this title becomes almost ironic when it is considered how the piece has been made

such that it can be played by multiple people at once. This sort of cooperation with a sculpture
named to fight evokes this same theme around how people work together to live through

dangerous experiences or under oppressive systems. Interestingly, the sound produced by

Ngoromera isn’t quite pretty. Described by Hwati as “haunting” in his interview with Rodriguez,

the instrument’s many parts come together to create a sound reminiscent of whale noises. Hwati

describes this as a “slightly uncomfortable sound; the point is just to be able to activate people to

engage into this listening mode”, which he describes as the active version of simply hearing (On

Ngoromera and Sculpture as Sound - In Conversation with Masimba Hwati).

When asked what hope sounds like in an interview with Hub City Writers’ Project, Hwati

said: “hope is an ambient sound, it’s almost at the end of the inaudible spectrum. It's very present

but maybe not so audible. It takes deep listening”. Perhaps, through Ngoromera, Hwati is simply

asking us to open our ears enough to hear the hope present in every situation. Hope is one of the

few human experiences that cannot be stolen, and with the navigation of oppressive power

systems, hope is what carries people through. In creating art that encompasses the full range of

the human experience – the good and the bad, the ugly and the beautiful – Hwati shows us just

how impressive that hope is.

 Works Cited

“Interview with Hub-Bub Artist-in-Residence Masimba Hwati.” Hub City Writers Project, 15

Apr. 2020, https://www.hubcity.org/blog/interview-with-hubub-artistinresidence

-masimba-hwati.

“On Ngoromera and Sculpture as Sound - In Conversation with Masimba Hwati,” Youtube,

UMMAMuseum, 27 July 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD_G4EuXXQM

“We Write to You about Africa.” We Write To You About Africa | University of Michigan

Museum of Art, UMMA, https://umma.umich.edu/exhibitions/2021/

we-write-to-you-about-africa.