For a man of few words, Kudzanai Chiurai is not afraid to speak his mind - which he does, loudly and brilliantly, through his art. His brutal honesty and fearless commentary on the status quo had him exiled from his homeland, Zimbabwe, and helped accelerate his rise as an internationally acclaimed artist by the age of 30.

Through his subversive statements, opinions, spoofs and observations, multilayered in arresting mixed-media works, he has been dubbed a poet, an anti-poet and a cultural philosopher. And yet Chiurai is not the kind of guy who would appreciate being put in a box.

In spite of sell-out shows, exhibitions abroad and his art hanging on the walls of New York's Museum of Modern Art and in Elton John and Richard Branson's homes, Chiurai remains unaffected: a cut-off observer, clearly speaking his truth. Not surprisingly then, his only future agenda is to return home to Zimbabwe to teach kids about art. - Lu Larché