Spirit of africa

SPIRIT OF AFRICA EXHIBITION OF SCULPTURE & PAINTINGS 1st October ~ 15th October at

STUDIO 18 ~ 23a Beresford Street ~ St Helier ~ JERSEY ~ JE2 4WN Tel: 01534 - 734920

SPIRIT OF AFRICA This exhibition comprises of 23 sculptures and 25 pictures with an African theme.

The sculptures have been brought over to Jersey by Tawanda Mberi, a native of Zimbabwe.

The two sculptors, Preveledge Garadi and Angus Tsomba are well known in Zimbabwe and further afield and their work is highly sort after.

Tawanda is hoping to support two charities from the proceeds of the exhibition. The first is Makomboreo Trust that provides scholarships to underprivileged children around Zimbabwe and the second charity is the Children’s Heart Foundation.

The paintings are an eclectic mix of work from different artists, some on canvas and some on cloth but all with an African theme.

We hope to see as many of you as possible during the show and on the opening day (Saturday 1st), we will be serving wine and nibbles

SCULPTURE Profiles of Artists Preveledge Garadi: Preveledge was born in Guruve, Northern Zimbabwe in 1986 into a sculpting community that included the world renowned sculptors Brighton Sango, Bernard Matemera and Henry Munyaradzi. His elder brother inspired him to start sculpting in his own right. Preveledge’s work is influenced by the natural world as well as traditional shona beliefs represented in abstract form. 11 years ago, Preveledge took his art to the bustling capital of Harare to bring his art to the world. He spent some months working in the capital and staying with family until he got his big break and caught the attention of Tapfuma Gutsa whom he worked under during his residency at Harare Polytechnical College. His work has found its way around the globe as his pieces were a favourite of the diplomatic corps in Zimbabwe.

Exhibitions: Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA) 2005, 2006, 2007, 2014 Ethno design project 2007, BAFA Festival 2009, Sanganai World Travel Exhibition 2010 Live and Direct (National Galleries of Zimbabwe) 2010, Mulonga Exhibition 2012, European Union Day 2014 ABASHA Festival 2014, Wild Geese Art Festival 2015 Angus Tsomba Angus was born in Harare in 1974 into a military family, with his mother being a soldier. He attended Oriel Boys’ school where he gained a keen interest in art. Upon finishing school he joined the military but quit after finding that his real passion lay in art. He began working pieces in clay from 1994 until trying his hand at stone and wood sculpting in 2004. Between 2004 and 2005 he worked under sculptor Nicholas Gochera before striking out on his own.

Exhibitions St Johns Festival, Harare, 2010 Harare International Festival of the Arts, Harare, 2014

FOUR BROTHERS Serpentine Stone

This piece represents the bond of brotherhood. A brotherly bond is one of the strongest bonds that exists. The four brothers represent the four ends of the earth and the concept that despite distance the thing that ties them together endures and is as eternal as rock itself. In our culture brothers are just different versions of the same person, the same with sisters. This is why we do not have the word uncle or aunt in our language. Baba means father and mai means mother. Uncle is either baba-munini (little father if he is younger than your biological father) or babamukuru (big father if he is older than your biological father. The same applies for aunts.

WARRIOR Serpentine Stone

Bust of a warrior in traditional dress.

MUROORA (Daughter-in-Law) Serpentine Stone

This piece is a daughter in-law serving beer during the “see-me� ceremony. This is a gathering that takes place after the traditional marriage ceremony where the husbands family gets to meet their new daughter in-law. The daughter in-law will usually come with a delegation comprised of her mothers and sisters and bring food and traditional beer. She is wearing a traditional head-dress called a dhuku which is a head wrap, I used the natural unpolished raw stone as her hat because that is what the original rock I sculpted looked like.

ANGRY WOMAN Serpentine stone

This is an angry woman harvesting her crops. She has had a poor harvest and will not make much at the market.

DIVING FISH Serpentine stone

The fish is a beautiful and fascinating subject. It is so different from us. It thrives where we would struggle and struggles where we thrive. The diving fish represents us moving into the area we are most comfortable in. Going into the depths of what makes us who we are. The deeper a fish goes into the water the more strength it gains. That is why the piece is so solid. It is one of the heavier pieces I have made and the idea was to show that strength that arises from going deep into who you are.

RUVA (Torso) Serpentine stone

In African tradition, women are described as flowers, due to their beauty and the joy they bring and their resilience. Even when they are not in bloom, they are there waiting for the first drops of water to touch them. This torso is called Ruva. It is a girl’s name which means “Flower”.

OWL MAN Springstone

A mixture of human life with that of the birds. This time the owl. The owl is a mysterious bird in African culture. It is only ever seen during the night which drives many superstitious beliefs and an association with the occult. It is also characterised as a lonely figure in Shona culture. It is simultaneously feared, despised and pitied.

HORSE Springstone

I call this my 5 dimensional piece because you can there are 5 different angles you can view it from and in this sense it is 5 different pieces. One of the themes of my work is that of perspective. All interpretations of my work depend on the point from which you view it. I chose the horse as a piece to work on because it is an inspiring creature. Horses are not that common in Zimbabwe and this is part of the reason why I chose to make a horse sculpture as I felt I needed to produce something that is uncommon for me as it posed a unique challenge of placing my perspective on it. Also the horse represents strength and nobility and I wanted to show the many different facets and interpretations of strength hence the different angles from which to view it.

PAINTINGS On the following pages are paintings by local African artists, some on canvas and some on cloth.

The first four are by a young lady, Sanna Warren. Sanna is based in the UK but regularly visits Kenya and helps out at a home for street and orphan children. The faces are children from that home.