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Kumbirayi Shoniwa Entertainment Reporter
Zvakanyorwa Wilbert Sadomba, a liberation war veteran, is using his academic and artistic skills to fight for the rights of stone sculptors in the country.In 2013 the University of Zimbabwe anthropology lecturer took part in a Research and Intellectuals Expo where he presented his findings on how artists have been subjected to gross exploitation by local and foreign middlemen when they sell their works.
Sadomba did a national survey on Zimbabwean sculpture dating back several decades which revealed how many creative artists were being severely prejudiced by people who took away their works of art for next to nothing.
“Despite Shona sculpture being rated as the best in Africa for the past 50 or so years the weakness has been that the artists have been exploited by a colonial legacy whereby whites were administrators of art whilst the creators were marginalised,” said Sadomba.
In order to try and correct the glaring imbalances which saw some sculptors receiving as little as US$200 for a piece which would eventually fetch up to US$50 000 on the world market, Sadomba was instrumental in setting up the Zimbabwe Sculpture Organisation (ZISO) in 2013.
“We do not even have anywhere where we keep our best pieces of sculpture as a nation as most pieces have been bought and shipped out of the country.
“Thus we created the Nhaka Cultural Heritage Centre in Concession where we commission artists to create pieces which will remain there so that art lovers come here to view the works instead of letting our great creations go to other countries,” added Sadomba.
The lecturer is also an author who has written books including “War Veterans in Zimbabwe’s Revolution”, which looks at the role of liberation war fighters in the acquisition of land from white settlers in the Third Chimurenga.
Online Reporter