
Owen Maseko is a Zimbabwean visual artist known for his hard-hitting paintings and his open defiance of dictator Robert Mugabe. In March 2010, Owen Maseko opened an exhibition containing works of art that depicted the Gukurahundi massacre, the murder of an estimated 20,000 Ndebele civilians carried out by Mugabe’s forces during the1980s. Maseko was arrested less than 24 hours after the exhibition opened, and was charged with “undermining the authority” of President Mugabe,as well as “causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion.” After being held in prison for four days, Maseko was granted bail.