Guns & Rain represents artists from across southern Africa including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique who work largely on paper and canvas. Art can be shipped globally, or sourced according to request and can be viewed online or in person at the Guns & Rain Gallery in Parkhurst, which is open only by appointment.
Zimbabwean-born Guns & Rain founder, Dr Julie Taylor, is a keen believer in the use of technology to bridge global divides and a former Google employee. With an academic background in anthropology and development studies she seeks to use online platforms to tackle Africa's under-representation in the art world. Guns & Rain couldn't have come at a better time with the confluence of social technology platforms, an explosion of artistic production and rocketing interest in the continent meaning that a strong online presence is increasingly important for artists.
The gallery's name is drawn from a study of then Rhodesia's guerilla war for independence by anthropologist David Lan. The themes explored in his book, of culture, identity, the symbolic and very real ties to land, and struggles for change resonate strongly from the work of Africa's young artists that Guns & Rain promotes.
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