Is one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from the Zimbabwean art scene over the past decade. A graduate of the National Gallery School of Visual Art and Design (NGSVAD), he studied both painting and sculpture, and was mentored by established artists including Wycliffe Mundopa, Moffat Takadiwa, and Gresham Tapiwa Nyaude. In April 2024, Makaza was among the artists representing Zimbabwe at the 60th Venice Biennale.
In order to merge his passion for painting and sculpture, Makaza developed his own medium—creating seductive, surreal, wall-mounted works made from pigment-infused silicone. This unique material can be poured, painted, woven, and knotted, resonating with traditional practices like weaving and tapestry. His work explores what contemporary African—and more specifically Zimbabwean—art can be: a paradigm that is internationally compelling yet locally constrained.
Over the past nine years, Makaza's work has become a deeply personal means of expression, both visceral and philosophical. It reflects his perspective as a young Zimbabwean engaged with the country’s political realities and their impact on daily life, as well as his position as a millennial navigating a globalized world.
By defying conventional formal categories, Makaza’s works conceptualize and "map out" a reconciliation of divergent cultural, historical, and political ideologies, both within Zimbabwe and globally. Despite their depth, his pieces remain playful and light in spirit, referencing elements of pop culture, traditional Zimbabwean symbolism, local cuisine, and global art history to create synthetic landscapes where color, form, and texture serve both aesthetic and symbolic purposes.
Troy Makaza has become a leading figure in the emerging contemporary art scenes of both Zimbabwe and South Africa. His international reputation continues to grow. He represented the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Fadzai V. Muchemwa. He was awarded the 2019 Investec Cape Town Art Fair Tomorrows/Today Prize, and his work has been exhibited in London, Milan, the Al Maaden Museum of Contemporary African Art in Marrakech, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium in Norway, Evergold Projects in San Francisco, as well as in art fairs including Art Basel Miami Beach, Art Basel Paris, Frieze No. 9 Cork Street, Art Joburg, and ARCOmadrid.
Most recently, his work was featured in the inaugural exhibition of the Museum of Sufi Art and Culture in the Paris region in 2024. In the same year, he completed a residency at La Ferme du Buisson (Noisiel) as part of the PAIR program by the Institut français—his second European residency after the Blachère Foundation. In February 2025, he was the subject of a solo exhibition at Galerie Poggi as part of their spring program.