CaliGraph spreading love one mural at a time
For the past few years, CaliGraph has been bringing positive vibes to various communities through art.
The media company which specializes in graffiti advertising has been using their skillset to create captivating inspirational murals.
The initiative comprises of Nyasha Jeche and Marcus Zvinavashe who are the lead creatives and work with six other artists. They also invite students and other people to paint with them from time to time.
These talented artistes are not just giving your neighborhood a facelift, but are also spreading awareness on various issues.
Of late with the covid-19 pandemic being the biggest topic up for discussion, CaliGraph has embarked on a massive campaign where they are creating artworks encouraging people to observe precautionary measures.
Their murals are not just random, but images that people within the communities that they are being put up can relate to.
For example, in Budiriro they used Jah Prayzah’s face to accompany their message encouraging people to stay safe by wearing masks and washing their hands regularly. People in this suburb can relate to the celebrity who was their homeboy on his way to stardom.
In Kambuzuma and Mufakose, they used Winky D and Khama Billiat respectively, both heroes in their own right within those areas.
In an interview with 263Culture one of the artistes Marcus Zinavashe said they were using words and images to beautify spaces while at the same time spreading relevant messages.
“Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting. It implies a sure knowledge of the correct form of letters, that is the conventional signs by which language can be communicated and the skill to make them with such ordering of the various parts and harmony of proportions that the experienced, knowledgeable eye will recognize such composition as a work of art,” said Zvinavashe.
“We use words and images in our art to communicate messages that are relevant to a topic and the community we are painting about and painting in.
“We are creatives. We are mural artists. Our job is to re-imagine how we can use murals to convey messages, beautify spaces, inspire, engage or create conversations through murals.”
The CaliGraph movement dates back to 2017 and has been growing in popularity and scope with each mural that they create.
“After graduation from university in 2016, a visit to South Africa a year after opened our eyes to the possibility of using murals as a means of communication on a larger scale.
“Before then, one of us was working in an advertising agency, another one was a painter. This experience from different sectors is what shaped the collective.”
Speaking on the work they are doing in spearheading covid-19 awareness campaigns, he said they had already completed three murals and were planning on doing more.
“We are painting in high density suburbs and the message is about encouraging and reminding people to wash their hands and make sure to wear a mask. We have painted three murals to date and we are continuing with the work. This is a collaborative project with Baobab Media and Nash Paints.
“The murals feature popular figures and we have painted one featuring Jah Prayzah in Budiriro, Khama Billiat in Mufakose and Winky D in Kambuzuma. All these popular people are being painted in communities where they grew up in to maximize the impact of the message on the mural.”
He added that while their families are their biggest supporters, they were also working in collaboration with various other entities’
“The support from our families has been phenomenal from the start but we have also had a number of collaborations and commissions.
“Our first collaboration was with Baobab Media when we painted the Tuku mural and they have been our partners since then.”
The recently partnered with Nash Paints as a paint partner on the Covid-19 mural campaign.
Zvinavashe added, “Our goal is to colour as many spaces as possible, to inspire through murals, to engage and for conversations to start because of our murals.”
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