Art News

Zimbabwe Police Shut 2nd Art Exhibit on Violence

HARARE (AP).- Police in Zimbabwe shut down an art exhibit exploring violence blamed on President Robert Mugabe, an attorney said Monday. Artist Owen Maseko collected family photos of missing people, images of mine shafts where bodies were believed dumped and reports on an armed uprising after independence in 1980 in the western Matabeleland district that was crushed by troops loyal to Mugabe. Thousands of civilians were massacred in the fighting. Attorney Kucaca Phulu said that Maseko, his client, spent the weekend in jail on incitement charges after police shut down the exhibit in Bulawayo Saturday. Maseko sought bail Monday but the court’s ruling was postponed to Tuesday, Phulu said. On Wednesday, police in Harare forced a human rights group to abandon a photo exhibit about political violence blamed on Mugabe’s supporters. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition leader now in a year-old coalition government with Mugabe, opened that exhibition and condemned poli