Africa Millenium Foundation - 2006

AFRICA MILLENIUM FOUNDATION ´FROM ANCIENT MYTHS TO MODERN MISSES´ AN HISTORICAL ´SPREAD´ OF ZIMBABWE´S STONE SCULPTURE, LONDON 2006

The Africa Millennium Foundation has sprung into being as an active and of the times promoter of Zimbabwe´s stone sculpture in UK, Canada and Denmark and Sweden. The Foundation when in Zimbabwe puts a toothcomb through the country to find sculptors, known and unknown to inform them about their exhibitions and competitions. To the Foundation what happens in sculpture in Nyanga and outposts of Guruve leading to Mukaera and indeed Mukaera itself is as significant as what happens in Harare. In 2006 the Foundation painstakingly and as accurately as it could be done put together an historically based Retrospective From Ancient Spirits to Modern Misses ´African Odyssey´ 50 years of Zimbabwe´s stone sculpture in London UK, and to accompany it a catalogue lavish both in images and carefully thought out words. The idea behind the exhibition was to achieve a balance in historic importance of those who constituted the original and early development of the stone sculpture, those who began because of their life´s circumstances to turn it away from the myths and legends and spiritual concerns of the early work towards a more international approach and those today, however international their approach may be make sculpture centered in the situation of Zimbabwe and therefore decidedly localized in content.

The Foundation is one of the latest initiatives to take up the cudgels for Zimbabwe´s stone sculpture outside of Zimbabwe; it is one of the initiatives with the welfare of the sculptors themselves at heart. Previously in exhibition it has done much for the empowerment of Zimbabwean woman at large, women who have turned from the shop counter, the kitchen, the field, the sowing machine and the office to their stones and done better for them. Prior to ´African Odyssey´ the African Millennium Foundation gave credence to women sculptors in a series of exhibitions ´In Praise of Women´ where women sculptors were given platform through Awards and Prizes. In ´African Odyssey´ this concern was followed through by prizes for woman sculptors, gender balanced by prizes for male sculptors.

A lavish catalogue accompanied the exhibition, prefaced by a carefully and poignantly reasoned Forward by William Saunderson Meyer Curator for the Africa Millennium Foundation followed by an essay ´History in the Making´ by Celia Winter Irving, Member of the Board of Advising Trustees of the Africa Millennium Foundation and author of numerous respected books on the stone sculpture. For scholars and students of the stone sculpture often hide bound by ´books and book learning´ this catalogue is imperative.

Present at the Exhibition was famed sculptor Dominic Benhura whose ´household name´ extends beyond Zimbabwe to centres of sculpture the world over. Dominic´s whose work captures the virtues of family life and the dangers of ´letting the kids outside the garden gate after school´ has become known for his humanitarian work, his pragmatic championship of many charities and causes. Guests to the exhibition had the opportunity to meet Dominic and learn what and all it takes to become a successful sculptor in Zimbabwe.

To take on the history of the stone sculpture is a challenge for any gallery, institution organization or individual. To make sense and cohesion of its disparate beginnings, to see a clear path unobstructed by fallacy sewn into fact, to weed out the false assumptions, the spurious claims to fame, the blockages to the truth, is not easy, Africa Millennium Foundation have chosen to present that history largely through the work of the sculptors themselves, rather than the words used by some to ´make´ the sculptures today. The exhibition demonstrates the cultural enrichment and diversity of the stone sculpture with some sculptures from Tengenenge by artists of Malawian origin, both Chewa and Yao. The Foundation has had the blessing of the British Museum for a loan of work and they have had the support of sculptors in known and obscure places, they have in 2006 for their Young Sculptor Awards had over l000 entries both male and female. With this groundswell of support they have moved on to mount and present African Odyssey. It would be easy in such an exhibition to focus on some years and leave out others, to become embroiled in ongoing debate about what is ´significant´ and what is not ´significant´ in the stone sculpture´s development, Fortunately this has not been the case, arguments have been left and alone and stones simply allowed to speak for themselves.

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