Chitungwiza Arts Centre

Chitungwiza Arts Centre A community arts project established in 1997 to be a platform for creative Art

18/08/2026

Random day at Chitungwiza Arts Centre



Happy Defence Forces Day, Zimbabwe
11/08/2026

Happy Defence Forces Day, Zimbabwe



As Zimbabwe commemorates Heroes Day, Chitungwiza Arts Centre joins the nation in honouring the brave men and women whose...
10/08/2026

As Zimbabwe commemorates Heroes Day, Chitungwiza Arts Centre joins the nation in honouring the brave men and women whose courage and sacrifice contributed to the freedom we enjoy today.
As artits, we honour our heroes not only by remembering their sacrifices, but also by preserving their stories, values and cultural heritage they fought to protect. Through sculpture, we continue to tell Zimbabwe's story.
This sculpture was made by Tracy Chatsama one of the talented female sculptors at Chitungwiza Arts Centre and its titled "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 2.
🇿🇼Lest We Forget

Arts Centre
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You can bet your last dollar Hare owns neither the drum nor the roast maize in these two sculptures by celebrated artist...
04/08/2026

You can bet your last dollar Hare owns neither the drum nor the roast maize in these two sculptures by celebrated artist Simelokuhle Zivengwa. The anti-hero of African folklore has a thousand tricks under his sleeve.

These sculptures showcase the storytelling side of sculpture by an artist who is a name to watch. The white opal piece, "My Music Drum" was nominated at the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA), adding to Zivengwa's string of accolades.

Beyond folklore, Zivengwa is alert to the human struggle. Her new piece, recently bought by Cancerserve Zw page founder, Dr. Anna Nyakabau, shows a breast cancer survivor.

MAISIRI THE GREAT HUNTERWhen Kasongo Band sang, "Maisiri, the great hunter, are you not afraid to walk the forest alone?...
28/07/2026

MAISIRI THE GREAT HUNTER

When Kasongo Band sang, "Maisiri, the great hunter, are you not afraid to walk the forest alone?" sculptor Taurai "Nyathi" Maisiri already had that one figured. As a boyhood hunter, Nyathi – who is named after his Buffalo totem – learned that a lone buffalo is the most dangerous of them all. "When the buffalo strays from the herd," Nyathi says, "it has either been injured or survived an attack. You may as well run for your life!"

Taurai "Nyathi" Maisiri was born into the Makoni dynasty of Manicaland in 1959. A descendant of the First Chimurenga hero, Chief Chingaira Makoni, his work has attracted political who's who, befitting his royal lineage. One of his buffalo sculptures was bought by Botswana's president, Festus Mogae, while another was presented to Namibian president, Sam Nujoma. Maisiri and his wife were also invited to lunch with Queen Elizabeth at the National Gallery during her October 1991 visit to Zimbabwe.

As a sculptor, Nyathi occupies a fascinating ecological office for his totem. In the olden days, a totem animal flourished wherever its people held power, protected by the taboo against hunting it. Elands were proud and free in Chiwashira's Chikomba territory; buffalos were untouchable in Chingaira's Makoni region; lions were not available to trophy hunters in the Nemamwa vicinity of Great Zimbabwe. Those were the good old times, long since replaced by modern settlements and wildlife management.

Nyathi skillfully tames the beast in man by carving his totem animal to provide substitute satisfaction for its would-be hunters. As Kasongo Band's "Maisiri Muvhimi" song concludes, "Everyone has his genius," a fire that animates excellence all of your own. Nyathi is living his genius in the offices of his totem.

BEAST OF BLOODY WATERSLeviathan is the biblical beast of bloody waters, a sea serpent commonly associated with the devil...
23/07/2026

BEAST OF BLOODY WATERS

Leviathan is the biblical beast of bloody waters, a sea serpent commonly associated with the devil. For philosopher Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan is an absolute ruler entrusted with upholding the social contract. Critics of bitcoin and its crypto cousins have also taken to calling the blockchain Leviathan, just short of calling it the number of the beast.

Chitungwiza Arts Centre-based artist, Rememberance Mhazi Chikuruwo has a different theory of the Leviathan. "The Leviathan represents the cunning system designed by Cecil John Rhodes to extract wealth from African soil while leaving behind broken communities," Chikuruwo explains in a statement for our first featured piece, "Overcoming Deception."

"The figure in the sculpture fights to break free," says Chikuruwo. "His posture represents the inner struggle to rise above the lies that were told, that the black man was made to serve, that his labor was his only worth, and that self-reliance was beyond his reach. The serpent clings tightly, but the struggle is not without hope."

A fitting tribute to African ancestors who refused to be defined by oppression.

Born in 1989, Chikuruwo is one of the high-concept creatives of the Stone Sculpture Movement. He was forced to rise to the occassion when his father, Simoriro Chikuruwo, a big sculptor now living in his native Wedza, was taken ill.

Functional art workshops in the 2010s, added a new dimension to his figurative Shona Art background. Recently, Chikuruwo and fellow artist Morgan Chijumani donated a sculptures to CancerServe, a non-profit which mobilizes cancer care for disadvantaged patients. Proceeds from the sale of the pieces will be used to provide a healthy meal per day for cancer patients.

THE STONE CARVERS AND ROCKSTARS OF CHABWINO FARMSculptures: “Family Unity” and “Spirit of Togetherness”Medium: Springsto...
22/07/2026

THE STONE CARVERS AND ROCKSTARS OF CHABWINO FARM

Sculptures: “Family Unity” and “Spirit of Togetherness”
Medium: Springstone and Marble
Artist: Chemedu Jemali
Location: Chitungwiza Arts Centre
Status: On Sale

At Chabwino Farm, along Shamva Road, there grew up Jemali brothers, Somanje brothers, and Nyawani brothers, all descended from Yao parents of Malawian origin in the 1970s. They gave the usual answers when asked what they wanted to do in life: pilot, doctor, clerk and so on.

When they met as adults at Makoni Nightclub in 1994, Chituwa and Chemedu Jemali had become stone sculptors of note in Chitungwiza. Chemedu would go on to be well-travelled and widely exhibited in Germany, Netherlands, Canada, the U.S and so on, while his brother is one of the best-known artists. That night, the stone carvers were turning up for a music concert performed by Daiton, Josphat and Clever Somanje, joined by the Laisan and Marefura Ngolowela and other farmhand rockstars, to make up the great Pengaudzoke band, number one in the country in 1992, 1997, and 2001.

Although many people remember Pengaudzoke as a Marondera-based band, The Boys started their professional career in Chitungwiza in 1989, with Josphat embezzling their father’s farm pension to rent a room for seven bachelor rookies in Unit J. That meeting was followed by more free tickets and a backstage pass for the Jemali brothers.

The Jemali partriach had come from an Igbo community in Nigeria, settling in Kenya and then Malawi, while the father of the sculptors sojourned in Tanzania, before finally settling in Zimbabwe. The immigrant lifestyle, and the loneliness that comes with it, is a persistent theme in many a Yao and Chewa song, from The Kachamba Brothers and Elisha Josamu, to Pengaudzoke and Alick Macheso. But so is the cultural pride and Pan-African inheritances.

All of this is ably embodied in Chemedu’s work. The big man is at home carving Gule waMkulu masks, whose strongest literary statement will be found in Achebe novels, but also themes of unity and diversity. Today’s featured sculptures show multi-racial couples and their children. The marble top turns on a piece to give the combined piece alternate fronts, one side showing the darker side, and the other side showing the lighter side of a mixed-race family.

Chemedu Jemali is one of the living proteges of classical Shona Art and, perhaps, a good reason to question that name. The movement that came to be known to the world as Shona Art had more than able practitioners from Malawi, Zambia and Mozambique, some of them immigrant farm workers before they took up hammer and rasper.

Richard Mupumha gives off grootman grace with a guitar in one hand and a chisel in the other hand. He comes from a folk ...
20/07/2026

Richard Mupumha gives off grootman grace with a guitar in one hand and a chisel in the other hand. He comes from a folk music tradition that has several regional variations in Zimbabwe – Dzemagitare, Maskandi, Marabi. This was the solo guitarist who lived on the trains in olden times, spinning impossible stories and dad jokes on the go.

Mupumha's signature – across a vast range of creations – is a face that is at peace with life, often smiling, with no signs of age. It's an art his own life imitates, as you are sure to spot him cracking a joke – or strumming his guitar – in his Sunday best every other day.

Born in Rusape in 1963, Mupumha was a war collaborator who used his unassuming frame to play innocently between Rhodesians lines while gathering intelligence for guerrilla fighters.

Remember Matafi, a 34-year old contemporary Shona artist, grew up feeding pigeons, shooing eagles away from his flock,...
20/07/2026

Remember Matafi, a 34-year old contemporary Shona artist, grew up feeding pigeons, shooing eagles away from his flock, and drawing life lessons from the birds. His favorite sculptures show a bird and its shadow, or a bird and its partner, to channel family togetherness, a classic Shona theme.

"Just feeding the pigeons," Dream says on the sidelines of a street football game. In fact, he is accompanying his sister, Death, on a mission to collect her dues, in "The Sandman" episode titled "The Dark Beating of Her Wings."

In Chitungwiza Arts Centre, birds may not be harassed – you are more likely to see them feeding innocently from the hands of artists. The cost they pay is a hundred human stories projected to them by the sculptors, who equally have a hundred ways of carving them.

MANY COLORS OF THE WORLD CUPIn Zimbabwean football, Agent Sawu had the most infamous gunman "juju." Once he scored, nobo...
20/07/2026

MANY COLORS OF THE WORLD CUP

In Zimbabwean football, Agent Sawu had the most infamous gunman "juju." Once he scored, nobody from his team could add to the tally for the rest of the match. On the global stage, you can trust one Kylian Mbappe to sweep every Golden Boot in Uefa, La Liga and the World Cup, and still wind up on the losing side.

Nothetheless, we congratulate the top goalscorer in World Cup history for bagging yet another consolation prize for the supporters of Africa Utd. Go Mr. World Cup!

Congratulations to Spain, Rodri the Computer, Lamine Yamal and other generational superstars. To those who made a wrong 10 last night, and picked the older horse in the race, life has its up and downs.

In the end, it's the power of football to bring the world together.

Our previous World Cup feature showed football abstracts. We bring the curtain down on the biggest stage of the beautiful game with a different kind of cool.

Chitungwiza Arts Centre-based sculptor Sam Mutohwa turns the "birds of a feather" ethic on its head with birds of different colors locked into one purpose. His sculpture brings together little birdies made from yellow stone, hyena stone, and leopard rock, and yellow stone, and go a layer down with his preferred setting of raw stone. "Different colors and creeds but one Earth is all we have, and sharing it is the best lesson we will ever learn."

(Goalie sculpture in opal by Nhamo Jasi)

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