Decorex Johannesburg brought together the pinnacle of design, innovation, and storytelling over four action-packed days. Walking the aisles of the exhibition, attendees encountered works that stop you in your tracks, pieces carrying the weight of history, family, and profound transformation.
One standout feature capturing attention at the gallery is a striking, deeply personal artwork by Zimbabwean artist Wadzanai Goredema, born from one of modern history's most devastating economic crises.
The Weight of a Lifetime: From Hyperinflation to Art
For Wadzanai, the inspiration stems directly from the shadows of Zimbabwe’s turbulent hyperinflationary period, a crisis that devastated ordinary livelihoods and wiped out the lifetime savings of everyday citizens.Among them was her father, a dedicated teacher who spent his life working hard to provide for his family. When he reached retirement age, decades of investment vanished overnight, rendered completely worthless by the collapsing economy. Preparing to leave his home to retire to the rural areas, the father stepped outside carrying a bag of heavy metal coins; the literal representation of everything he had saved across his lifetime. Handing them over to his daughter before being driven home, he uttered the heartbreaking admission: "I don't know what to do with this." Knowing the coins were financially meaningless, she made a pivotal decision, "I said, oh, dad, give that to me... I'll create a happy story and give value to these coins."
Crafting "Monetarism"
Dusting off her paintbrushes, Wadzanai integrated the obsolete coins directly into the canvas, creating intricate circular patterns that form the structural core of the piece. To complement the textured metallic work, she also mastered a new medium: printmaking, which forms the rich background of the composition. Every element of the artwork tells a deeply personal family story,
*The Circles represent the tireless grind of a father working hard to earn a dollar so his child could have a new dress and celebrate milestones.*
The Celebration depicts Wadzanai holding a trophy, honouring her father for a lifetime of dedication and labor. And The Sibling Legacy features her brother, excited to inherit the deep family values that anchor them. She shares that when a friend heard the backstory, they joked that the movement deserved its own artistic title, playing on the established economic term. Given that art history has impressionism and expressionism, the piece proudly adopted a playful nickname: Monetarism.
Though her father is elderly now with failing vision, he remains deeply moved by the journey, amazed to see the little girl he once bought crayons for grow into a fully realised professional artist whose work brings people to tears.
The Power of Visibility and Resilience
For Wadzanai, debuting at Decorex Johannesburg was a triumphant test of endurance. Reflecting on the hurdles of getting her work across the border, she shared, "When we came to set up, it brought tears to my eyes to realise I've come all the way from Zimbabwe and it was not an easy journey at all... At some point, I actually just wanted to break down in tears and say, 'You know, I think let's do this next year.' But I said, no. We said this last year. This year, we are going and nothing is holding us back." That refusal to back down stems from a core belief in why artists create in the first place: "If we are not being seen and we're not being heard, then our art doesn't really exist, does it? We want to exist. We have messages to take to people."
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