Wallen Mapondera was born in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, and currently lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. Mapondera received formal art training from Zimbabwe’s National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design from 2005 to 2007, and completed his Masters degree in Fine Art from Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa in 2019. In 2015, he was the recipient of Zimbabwe’s prestigious National Arts Merit Award – in the Visual Arts Two-Dimensional Work category – awarded by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe.

In 2007 Mapondera was selected for the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Artist-in-Residence Programme hosted at the National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design Studios in Harare, Zimbabwe. Mapondera has since been a resident at the Vermont Studio Center, Burlington in Vermont, USA in 2012, and Pro Helvetia Studio in Zurich, Switzerland in 2018.

Mapondera’s Masters Exhibition, Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro, opened at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa in 2019. Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro Part Two opened at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa the following year in 2020. Earlier solo presentations include: Moving Target at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa as well as a solo presentation with Tyburn Gallery at Atelier Mondial in Basel, Switzerland in 2019; Emergency Exit at Tyburn Gallery in London, UK; and Samusha Weiri Dongo at SMAC Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa, both in 2018 and Tsananguro | Clarifications at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa in 2017.