Berry Bickle (born 1959) is a Zimbabwean artist who resides in Maputo. Born in Bulawayo, Bickle attended the Chisipite Senior SchoolinHarare. Later, she attended the Durban Institute of Technology, where she obtained a national diploma in fine arts,[1] and South Africa's Rhodes University, where she obtained a master's degree in fine arts.[1][2] Bickle was a founding member of Bulawayo's Visual Artists' Association.[3]
Berry Bickle is a multimedia artist who works in installation, video, photography, and ceramics.[7] Her works are generally installations, and are mixed media works which incorporate script; some include video and photography. Bickle has collaborated closely with the Zimbabwean ceramicist, Marjorie Wallace.[7] She has collaborated with the Peruvian artist Adrian Velasquez.
The exhibition and the publication Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art[8] highlight the presence of texts in Bickle's work and the importance of the act of writing and of collecting words; in this frame, the artist labels her work "Re-Writes".[9]
Berry Bickle's work is exhibited internationally. In 2011, Bickle represented Zimbabwe at the Venice Biennale, at the time a rare appearance for an African nation.[11] The Zimbabwean Pavilion, which was curated by Raphael Chikukwa, was titled "Seeing Ourselves".[11]
Textures – Word & Symbol in Contemporary African Art – National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, 2005.[12]
Africa Remix – Contemporary Art of a Continent – Hayward Gallery, London (England), 2005.
Body of Evidence (Selections from the Contemporary African Art Collection) – National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC, 2006.
Africa Remix – Contemporary Art of a Continent – Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006.
7ème Biennale de l'Art Africain contemporain – Dak'Art Biennale de l'art africain contemporain, exhibition curated by N'Goné Fall in the frame of the individual exhibitions, Dakar, 2006.
Annual MUSART – Museu Nacional de Artes (MUSART), Maputo, 2007.
Exit11, Limited edition Part 1 – Exit11, Grand-Leez, 2007.
Africa Remix – Contemporary art of a continent – Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG), Johannesburg, 2007.
L'oeil-Écran Ou La Nouvelle Image – Casino Luxembourg – Forum d'art contemporain, Luxembourg, 2007.
Animais: Caracterização e Representação – Museu Nacional de Artes (MUSART), Maputo, 2008.
Chance Encounters – Seven Contemporary Artists from Africa – Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (CCA, Lagos), Lagos, 2009.
Maputo: A Tale of One City – Oslo Kunstforening, Oslo, 2009.
Biennale di Venezia – 54th International Art Exhibition, Pavilion of Zimbabwe, exhibition Seeing Ourselves curated by Raphael Chikukwa, Venice, 2011.[11]
The Divine Comedy. Heaven, Purgatory and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists, 2014 Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt am Main.[13]
^Staff (2012). "Berry Bickle b. Zimbabwe, 1959". Textures – Word and symbol in contemporary African art. National Museum of African Art/Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^Pachipamwe International Artists' Workshop is held annually in Zimbabwe between 1988 and 1994. Set of images of the workshop.
^Staff (2010). "Berry Bickle". Rockefeller Foundation – Innovation for the next 100 years. The Rockefeller Foundation. Archived from the original on 1 May 2012. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^ abSterling, Beverley (July–August 2008). "BERRY BICKLE: LOST WORDS NATIONAL GALLERY OF ZIMBABWE, HARARE APRIL 2008". Ceramic Review (232).
^Inscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art, curated by Christine Mullen Kreamer, Mary Nooter Roberts, Elizabeth Harney, Allyson Purpura, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 2007.
^Berry Bickle, Re-WritesinInscribing Meaning: Writing and Graphic Systems in African Art, curated by Chistine Mullen Kreamer, Mary Nooter Roberts, Elizabeth Harney, Allyson Purpura, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, 2007, p. 227-229; in particular the text refers to the works Wandering, Sarungano, Pessoa bowls series.
^ ab[Melancholia from the series "Maputo Utopias", 2007 on IFA gallery website "IFA: Berry Bickle". Archived from the original on 3 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-06-15.].
^ abcMeldrum, Andrew (3 June 2011). "Zimbabwean artists featured at Venice Biennale - Zimbabwean paintings, videos, sculpture and photos displayed in Venice festival". Global Post.
^WICKOUSKI, Sheila (24 February 2005). "Ruscha-What's in a word? - Two exhibits, one at the National Gallery of Art and one at the National Museum of African Art, center around the written word". Free Lance-Star.
