Raphael Chikukwa is a Zimbabwean curator and institutional leader, serving since 2020 as Executive Director of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe (NGZ). Before that, from 2010 to 2020, he was Chief Curator and Deputy Director of NGZ: prior to joining the Gallery he spent over a decade working as an independent curator. He trained first at the Harare Art Centre, and later earned a Postgraduate Diploma in Arts and Culture Management from the University of the Witwatersrand Business School (South Africa). He also holds an MA in Curating Contemporary Design from Kingston University London. Chikukwa has been a driving force in shaping Zimbabwe’s presence on the global contemporary‑art stage. He was the founding curator of the national representation of Zimbabwe, the Venice Biennale Pavilion, beginning with the 54th International Art Exhibition in 2011, and has curated or overseen the Pavilion for subsequent editions (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022). Beyond the Biennale, his curatorial work includes significant exhibitions such as Visions of Zimbabwe (Manchester, 2004), and collaborative or regional projects like Kabbo Ka Muwala: Migration and Mobility in Contemporary Art (2016) and African Voices (2017). He has also contributed in a number of publications that includes Mawonero/Umbono: Insights in Zimbabwean Contemporary Art, Zimbabwe Pavilion Catalogues (Seeing Ourselves 2011, Dudziro 2013, Pixels of Ubuntu/Unhu 2015, Deconstructing Boundaries 2017 and Soko Risina Musoro – A Tale Without. Head 2019) and the catalogue for Kaboo Ka Muwala: Migration and Mobility exhibition in 2016.