daniel chigunwe
Arts Correspondent
Zimbabwe’s leading online sculpture gallery Avac Arts has donated two tonnes of raw sculpting stones to young resident artists working from the Chitungwiza Arts Centre.
The donation is a pilot project by the gallery in its bid to promote and improve the overall livelihoods of young sculptors and female artists.
This comes at a time many artists are struggling to cater for their basic needs let alone material to use in their work as the sector, which largely relies on export and international tourism arrivals is suffering from the effects of Covid-19 pandemic.
“A lot of artists have not been spared by the negative social and economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic that has devastated tourism and global trade at large since 2019,” said Avac Arts founder and director Terrence Musiyiwa.
“Apart from the pandemic, Zimbabwe has been negatively affected by loss of employment, drug abuse and high crime rate.”
Musiyiwa said Chitungwiza being the third largest urban settlement after Harare and Bulawayo was a good starting point before expanding the project nationwide.
“Idle minds are dangerous and by supporting local youth artists with raw stones we are able to get them off the streets, off drugs, off crime, off sexual abuse and working in a casual environment that allows them to be productive and creative,” he said.
“Art is a good alternative source of employment that empowers the youth to survive as artists even with minimal education.”
Musiyiwa said the donation that comes on the eve of Women’s Day is an investment targeted at the future of stone sculpture.
“The future of stone sculpting does not lie in the hands of the present generation of artists alone,” he said. “Rather, the responsibility is also in the hands of the younger generation to carry on the legacy to the next generations to come.
“It is also said that if you empower a woman you would have empowered the community at large. Stone sculpting has traditionally been a sector dominated by males.
“From our observation, a number of female artists and young artists are quite talented but lack adequate tools and material to sculpt on their own.
“As such, many are hidden behind the shadows of established artists who then exploit the creativity of these young artists and take credit for artworks they did not create themselves.”
Online Reporter