Ndoro rare breed of sculptor

sculpture as the art of giving or altering the form or semi solid material.
Stone sculpture is therefore the art of giving form to stone, either by adding or subtracting from its total body mass.
Growing around uncles who were into stone sculpture, this helped her understand the art.
“I knew about stone sculpture from my uncles. As I was growing up my uncles would sculpt from home and the place was always littered with stone carvings.
“When I was young, I knew I wanted to be an artist. I lived in awe of my uncles as I watched them work and seeing their art forms take shape.
“I did not necessarily aspire to be a sculptor, but I knew I had to venture into art one day because I had a passion for it that ran through my veins, “she said.
Her mother was supportive of her artistic streak having come from the family with the artistic strand.
“She has a good eye for art and perfection, so she is my greatest critique on the finishing touches on my art.
“This helps me keep in check in terms of quality – a notion supported by my sculpture mentor, Mr Benhura. She is also a sounding board of sorts,”she added.
Sometimes it helps to have a layperson put things into logical perspective, as an artist and she does that for me. Her late father would have supported her all the way as she remembers one day discussing with her father about a designing school in Paris.
Christine is also into painting and photography.
Her works are guided by her personal philosophy, her viewpoint states that: “As a woman, history has an immense contribution towards whom I am and why I am. Therefore while moving forward; it is important to acknowledge my past as a Ndoro, as well as a child of Zimbabwe, my ancestors, and Africa, but more importantly as a citizen of the world.
“I am a citizen of the world and therefore my art is a window through which I relate how I see and interpret the world.
“Since my inspiration is from anything and everything, artwork can be made from anything and everything. It is important to respect and honour the earth from which my art and inspiration comes.
“It is therefore important to create art that relates to the world, I have aspired to do this by predominantly employing natural material such as stone and wood which are residual materials from non-artistic activity such as mining and agriculture,” Ndoro explains.
Her journey began as an exploration into the sculpture of Zimbabwe, which she says is increasingly becoming less Shona. The exploration led her to a sculptural dimension called assemblage art.
“There are a number of artists who have inspired me. These artists have explored different types of the methodology within the field of sculpture. Among the artists are Louise Nevelson, Minoru Ohira and Robert Rauschenberg, Benhuras and Gutsas (her uncles).
“The African mask was a source of inspiration for Nevelson and Picasso.
“Tapfuma Gutsa relates how Picasso borrowed from Africa, so he is free to do the same and so am I. I used the theme of the African mask to create various artworks. The term African in this case is used because I am African and my work is therefore African,” she said.
Her aim is to produce mixed media artwork that sits on the two and three-dimensional fence, which results in pictorial sculpture. The inspiration is from any and every source, although she is largely inspired by the artistic movement of assemblage.
“Assemblage is often used as a statement against the abuse of the environment, which in turn supports the values of conservation and recycling values that my mentor Dominic Benhura also ascribes to.
“I make use of social commentary as a tool for innovation and self expression,” she said.
Recently she exhibited her works under the title “This woman’s work; an artistic journey”, which was aimed to take the audience through her artistic journey into the world of assemblage and other art forms.
It served to familiarise the audience with the artists work and history as an art student then at Chinhoyi University of Technology, and where she stands now as an artist.
Towards the end of 2009, she had a mixed media compilation called “Tribute” at the National Gallery for the COSAFA exhibition dedicated to the World Cup South Africa 2010 phenomena. In 2010, she also held a solo exhibition at a local hotel.
“I did arouse a lot of interest in my art especially the painting and sculpture since it was not conventional sculpture. With the paintings, the interest lay in the conceptual ideas underlying the artwork. I am a strong believer in interactive arts.
“Art must invoke something in its audience, whether positive or negative – a notion I borrowed from the ‘Gutsa philosophy’. According to the comments I had written on my comment books, the women were inspired, men surprised and children simply had fun running in and among my art works. I have gotten some commissions since the exhibition,”she said.
Some of her photographic works have found their way at the Gwanza Annual Photographic Exhibition at the National Gallery. While Christine is doing well in sculpture, painting and photography, not many women are venturing into these art forms. She explains why women are finding it difficult to break in the art, different art forms especially sculpture.
“Sculpture is a very difficult field to break into. It is not only physically challenging but emotionally straining as well. This is especially so at the beginning of the journey.
“It therefore becomes easy to fall off the bandwagon. I was truly fortunate to be surrounded by masters of sculpture at Dominic Studios, who were quick and gentle in correcting my mistakes, but also very encouraging.
“Consistently, I was reminded that each artist’s journey started from somewhere and it was not from an easy place. The guys from the studio often told me that once the calluses came out, then the worst was over.
“I realised that very few women would have that kind of support and the kind of patience that sustained me during my time at the studio. I ached from my hair to my toes, but the environment from which I was working, made it so easy to wake up every morning to a tougher day than the one before.
“Eventually, I got used to it. Sculpture did not kill me but it made me stronger. I think that the women who made it in sculpture are the ones that persevered long enough to realise this fact,” she said.
Some of the women who have made it in the art of stone sculpture and who have given her encouragement are, Semina Mpofu and Ronika Thandi. She has also met some female sculptors at Tengenenge Village. Christine encourages women to take up stone sculpture: “Any woman can, because at the lowest and greatest height s of my lifetime, I have been like every woman. I practiced, persevered and never let my fiery passion for art die.
“My father had a saying that the best revenge in life is living well, “she added.
Translating it into art, I’d say the best revenge is doing well. I had a lot of harsh critiques from different sources. I listened and that helped me to grow. That is how I know my art is alive because I grew in it – therefore should any woman who aspires to be an artist of any kind – without criticism, one cannot grow.
Joyce Jenje Makwenda is a researcher, archivist, author, producer and freelance journalist. She can be contacted on: [email protected]