Faces tell stories in Parkview
JOBURG – Faces tell a thousand stories, but can also tell a thousand lies.
A celebratory exhibition titled Faces showcasing the work of 30 contemporary Zimbabwe stone sculptors launches in Parkview.
The stone sculptors of Zimbabwe have the artistic ability to carve a face out of rock in a myriad of different ways, be it human, spirit, fish or fowl. It is a skill that has been centuries in the making and will be on display at Rwavhi Fine Art stone sculpture gallery in Parkview from 19 November to 11 December.
Over the past decade, Zimbabwe’s artists have had to endure political turmoil, economic upheaval and great hardship. In the face of this, they have used the medium of stone as a crucible for their creative energies, carving their imagination and vision into sculptures that are powerful, moving and transcendent.
Among internationally established artists featured in this celebratory exhibition, are works by Charles Nembaware of the Svikiro Sculpture collective; Peter Makuwise from Nyanga; Nesbert Masunda, who apprenticed under the late great Nicholas Mukomberanwa, a founder member of the sculpture movement in Zimbabwe; Walter Mariga, 2016 resident artist at the Rice Lake gallery in Canada, and Lovemore Bonjisi who is widely recognised as Zimbabwe’s modern-day Michelangelo.
Visiting guest artist, Authur Manyengedzo will be present at the gallery to answer questions about the Shona sculpture movement and to guide visitors around the exhibition until 28 November. Manyengedzo has an international reputation as an accomplished third generation sculptor, and his work is highly sought after in the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany.
The ancient tradition of stone carving in Zimbabwe dates back to the 13th century. The totemic bird sculptures and ruins of Great Zimbabwe are evidence of the stonemasonry skills of the great Shona empires.
The tradition of stone sculpting was rekindled in 1957 when the then curator of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Frank McEwen, invited hardwood sculptors from the mountainous Nyanga region to come to a workshop at the gallery in Harare.
Few of Zimbabwe’s stone sculptors have had the benefit of any formal art training. The First Generation artists looked to their traditional culture for inspiration. Because the majority of the sculptors were Shona, the art movement was initially known as the Shona Sculpture movement. Now, however, there are a number of sculptors from Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia also working in stone, and they have enriched the movement with their cultural input.
Today it is a distinctly modern art form that takes inspiration from contemporary life and politics as well as traditional and spiritual beliefs.
Rwavhi Fine Art, a company founded by Carolyn Dempster, has been representing Zimbabwe’s Third Generation stone sculptors in South Africa since 2006.
Details: www.rwavhi@icloud.com
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