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MY BIOGRAPHIE

Culture in Stone

Hilary Manuhwa

“I learnt most how to make the stone move”

Shona Sculpture is part of an art movement which emerged in the

1960’s. African stone carvers create works that aspire to beauty,

mystery and spirituality. The sculptures have an abstract and a

figurative quality. The belief of the Shona sculptor is that each stone

contains a spirit essence and their sculptures are shaped by this, as the

artist carves, the spirit transforms the stone.

Serpentine stone is the most commonly used material and comes in a

variety of colours and levels of hardness. The hardest and darkest is

Black Serpentine. Other stone commonly used by the sculptors

include, Opal stone, Spring stone, Sapolite and Verdite.

Verdite is a semi-precious stone over 3,500,000 years old and is

challenging to work because of its extreme hardness. The rare and

beautiful verdite comes in a variety of patterns and shapes, ranging

from golden brown to a rich emerald green and blue. Verdite found

only in Southern Africa particularly Zimbabwe is unique and very

high-quality. Therefore verdite is highly prized because of its beauty

and intrinsic value.

Hilary was born into a family of artists in March 1979. Damian his father is a leading figure

of the Shona sculpture tradition. Originally from Zimbabwe Hilary learnt his craft in his

father’s workshop. From these beginnings Hilary began to stake his claim in the rich

traditions of Shona Sculpture. Although his father advised him that it was not an easy path

because “artists are generally shunned in our society and not taken seriously” In 1999 Hilary

became apprentice to Shona sculptor Gideon Nyanhongo where he met Agnes, Gideon’s

sister. Agnes is one of the finest female sculptors to come out of Zimbabwe and was to

become hugely influential to Hilary and his work.

Hilary said “I learnt most how to make the stone move and perfected the art of ‘styling’ my

pieces in a manner synonymous with most of the new generation of stone sculptors. Dad’s

work was, and still is, very much steeped in our cultural ways and beliefs as a Shona people.

It is very spiritual. With Nyanhongo, I learnt to follow and work on pieces with themes of

everyday life and interpret day-to-day occurrences through art. Hilary uses these experiences

and ideals to develop and consolidate his work.

Hilary says, 'My dream is to carve a new dimension into Shona sculpture by doing work that

departs from our fathers and forefathers line. I am convinced it is the only way we can keep

the art in progression. If that can be achieved, then I will know my efforts have been a

success.”