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Oriel College opens exhibition about Cecil Rhodes and Zimbabwean sculpture
10 October 2025
An exhibition about Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign and Zimbabwean stone sculpture opened to the public at Oriel College following an official launch event.
At the launch event, the Provost, Lord Mendoza, introduced the exhibition to high-profile guests including Oxford University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Irene Tracy, and Chief Diversity Officer, Professor Tim Soutphommasane.
Mendoza said that “one of the things [the exhibition] represents is its part in the range of positive work that Oriel is doing, leaning in to our relationship with Southern Africa as a direct result of our historic connection to Rhodes”.
He also commended the work by members of the Commission into the issues surrounding the Cecil Rhodes statue at Oriel College. Some of those members were present at the event.
The report produced by the Commission, Mendoza added, “went on to inform the government’s own guidance on contested heritage”.
The exhibition’s launch was held at the beginning of Black History Month.
Richard Pantlin, founder of the Oxford Zimbabwe Arts Partnership (OZAP), curated the exhibition, with William Beinart, an emeritus professor at Oxford University’s African Studies Centre, providing the exhibition’s text.
The exhibition features four sculptures carved out of springstone and serpentine by Zimbabwean artists. The sculptures were all finalists in a competition organised by OZAP and funded by Oriel College.
The competition was launched in January 2025 and received a total of 110 submissions. Artists at Chitungwiza Arts Centre were invited to submit sculptures reflecting on the legacy of Cecil Rhodes in Zimbabwe, of which Harare, near where the arts centre is located, is the capital city.
A shortlist of 50 sculptures was agreed at Chitungwiza in March, followed by a selection of finalists that was shown to a panel of judges chaired by Mendoza. Also on the judging panel were Be Manzini, a Zimbabwean UK-based multi-disciplinary artist; Elleke Boehmer, a Rhodes Trust trustee; and Norbert Shamuyarira, a Shona sculptor.
The judges chose a sculpture called “Blindfolded Justice” by Wallace Mkankha as the winner, but also agreed that three other sculptures should feature in the exhibition as well. All four sculptures were transported from Chitungwiza to Oxford for the exhibition.
The exhibition is now closed at Oriel College. On 11 October, it will re-open at the University Church of St Mary the Virgin, where it will remain until 7 December.