Gerald Machona — Ndiri Cross Border Trader

Gerald Machona transforms discarded currency into sculptures, masks, and garments that speak about migration, value, and survival. It’s fascinating how something considered worthless can suddenly become alive and meaningful. Do materials have memories? Or is it just about what I project onto them? Maybe a bit of both.

One artwork that resonates deeply is “Ndiri Cross Border Trader (I Am a Cross Border Trader)”. It depicts Machona himself performing as a cross-border trader. He uses old Zimbabwean notes to create masks and costumes. The money is no longer currency, but it carries histories of trade, value, and instability. The masks themselves are haunting. They seem to speak of identity in movement, of people navigating a world where value shifts and survival is precarious. The work as a whole feels performative, like it’s waiting to be worn. The repetition of the notes builds rhythm, and the intricacy shows both labor and care. He stands in urban or border landscapes, embodying the strategies, visibility, and resilience required to navigate precarious systems. The reflective tape shimmers under light, referencing caution, danger, and survival, while the fabrics assert cultural identity and personal presence. 

The photograph he captures becomes a performance of identity, where Machona physically enacts the roles, behaviors, and tensions experienced by cross-border traders in everyday life. His own body becomes a tool to inhabit the spaces of negotiation, surveillance, and survival. The act of performing, posing, gesturing, wearing protective and symbolic materials makes visible the labor, risk, and agency embedded in migration. The photograph freezes this performance, but you can sense the movement. You can sense the tension between visibility and vulnerability. The title, “Ndiri” meaning “I am”  emphasizes this assertion of presence, identity, and resistance in the face of systemic pressures.