Wallen Mapondera was born in 1985 in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he currently lives and works. Mapondera completed his Masters Degree in Fine Art at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa in 2019. He was awarded the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Artist-in-Residence Programme, hosted at the National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design Studios in Harare in 2007, and the Artist-in-Residence programme at the Vermont Studio Center, Burlington in Vermont, USA in 2012. In 2015 he was the recipient of Zimbabwe’s prestigious National Arts Merit Award, presented by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe. His solo exhibitions include Kura Uone at SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa, in 2025; with group presentations, Art Basel Hong Kong (SMAC Gallery), Hong Kong; Art Paris (Gallerie Mitterand), Paris, France.

In 2023, Mapondera presented a solo booth in the Discoveries Section at Art Basel: Hong Kong, with SMAC Gallery. In 2022, Mapondera represented Zimbabwe at the 59th Venice Biennale in Venice, Italy, with an exhibition curated by Fadzai Muchemwa. He also presented a solo exhibition of new work, titled Chikokoko (Little Pleasures That Counts) at Galerie Mitterrand in Paris, France; and a solo booth at The Armory Show in New York City, USA, both in 2022. Further solo exhibitions include: a solo booth with SMAC Gallery in the Nova Section of Art Basel OVR: Miami Beach in 2020; Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro (Part One), the artist’s MFA exhibition which opened at Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa in 2019; Chirema Chine Mazano Chinotamba Chakazendama Madziro (Part Two) at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town in 2020; Moving Target at SMAC Gallery in Cape Town, as well as a solo presentation at Atelier Mondial in Basel, Switzerland, both 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 in 2017.

Mapondera has taken part in group presentations at Art Basel Hong Kong, with Gallerie Mitterrand, in 2022 and with SMAC Gallery in 2024. Notable group exhibitions include: Gather II, SMAC Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2024); Mother Lode: Material and Memory, James Cohen Gallery (Gallerie Mitterrand), New York, United States (2024); Between Borders: Migration, Power and Boundless Imagination, Museum Arnhem, Arnhem, The Netherlands (2023); Inner Landscape, Bloom Galerie, Geneva, Switzerland (2022); I did not Leave a Sign? Zimbabwean Pavillion, 59th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2022); Fragments, Museum der Kulturen Basel, Basel, Switzerland (2022); Art Brussels (SMAC Gallery), Tour & Taxis, Brussels, Belgium (2022); Black Luminosity, curated by Gcotyelwa Mashiqa, at Smac Gallery in Stellenbosch, South Africa (2021); The Armory Show, New York City, USA (2021); Matereality at Iziko South African National Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa; and Gather at Smac Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa, both in 2020; 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, London, UK (2019); Artissima, Turin, Italy (2019); Five Bhobh: Painting at the End of an Era at Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCAA) in Cape Town, South Africa (2018); Familiar Histories: An Unstoppable Force in Contemporary Art Discourse, curated by Raphael Chikukwa, at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, in Harare, Zimbabwe (2017); X: Part III (2017) and Nothing Personal (2016) both at SMAC Gallery in Stellenbosch, South Africa; Between the Sheets at Gallery East in Fremantle, Australia (2012).