Isheanesu Dondo

Zimbabwe

About the Artist

Isheanesu Dondo (b. 1985) is a self-taught Zimbabwean artist whose eclectic and wide-ranging interests include science, astronomy and religion. He left the study of biochemistry to pursue his art career, developing an enigmatic style that moves between figuration, symbolism and abstraction.

Dondo combines found materials (including tetrapak) with intricate linework to create layered, symbolic compositions. Working from Shamva, Zimbabwe, he transforms everyday fragments into visual maps rich with memory and meaning. His use of unconventional surfaces reflects a resourcefulness and speaks to themes of resilience, materiality and spiritual enquiry.

Drawing on Shona cosmology and esoteric thought, Dondo’s lines form spirals, glyphs and flowing paths that suggest ancestral landscapes and metaphysical rhythms. Each piece is a synthesis of intuition and intention, inviting slow, attentive looking. Through collage and mark-making, Dondo continues to explore the connections between the physical and spiritual, crafting minimalist, tender works that are both grounded and transcendent.

His influences include the Hermetic philosophy of ancient Egypt, divination practices in Shona religion, and Zimbabwean artists and stone sculptors such as Mukomberanwa, Gutsa, Gwetai and Zvavahera.

Dondo’s work has been exhibited in group exhibitions at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town, Althuis Hofland Fine Arts, the Netherlands (2019) and regularly at Guns & Rain since 2021 in Johannesburg, Cape Town and London, including a solo exhibition in 2024, and presentations at Latitudes Art Fair (2023) and the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (2025).

Exhibitions

  • 2026 Glen Carlou Gallery, Cape Town
  • 2025 Investec Cape Town Art Fair with Guns & Rain, Cape Town
  • 2025 Crescent Moon, Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Cape Town
  • 2024 SACRED GEOMETRY, Guns & Rain, Johannesburg (solo)
  • 2024 Entangled: Colonialism, Monuments & Memory, Guns & Rain group exhibition at Rhodes House, London
  • 2024 Into One’s Own: Reckoning with Monuments & Memory, group exhibition at Guns & Rain, Johannesburg
  • 2024 DECADE : 10 Years of Guns & Rain (group exhibition), Johannesburg
  • 2023 RMB Latitudes Art Fair, Johannesburg
  • 2022 Muzivi Wenzira, Guns & Rain X StArt Art, Notting Hill, London
  • 2022 Romancing the Stone, KwaZulu Natal Society of Arts (group exhibition)
  • 2021 Fresh Voices, Guns & Rain (group exhibition)

Collections

  • ARAK Collection, Qatar

Selected Works

Three Magi

2024
Fineliner pen and ink on fabriano paper
29.7 x 21

Obelisk

2024
Pen and printmaking ink on paper
75 x 52.5 cm

MAGI II

2024
Pen and ink on paper
42 x 29.7 cm

COSMOLOGY I & II

2024
Pen and ink on paper
Diptych
42 x 60 cm

Golden Skies

2023
Pen and Indian ink on fabriano paper
23 x 32 cm

Man with a Hawk

2023
Pen and Indian Ink on Fabriano paper
42 x 29.7 cm

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