“You best serve the world by doing what you love.”
- Collen Nyanhongo
I come from Zimbabwe, a culture suffering in contemporary times but carrying with it a mighty spirit of cultural and artistic endeavors. Art, in all of its expressions, is a revered way of being and seeing the world in my homeland. I create and offer my life’s work as a means of fusing the insights of my ancestors, with the modernity of expression. I listen carefully to the spirit of the stone I carve. Stone carries with it so much history of both nature and humankind. I listen with my hands, my thinking heart, and my feeling mind. Eventually, the stone leads me to the shape it can become to express itself. It is my task to meticulously sculpt it to existence.
I strive to capture the essence of living things and human life without telling it figuratively but allowing it to reveal itself through moods, feelings, lines, contour, texture and shape. Sculpting is the way I respond to life itself. It is the way I connect, learn, share, love, and honor the struggles of being alive. I choose to work with springstone, leopard stone, and lepidolite. From my sculptures, I want to help people to understand the culture of our ancestors, the day-to-day life of people and the interaction between man and nature.
What is your background?
I was born into a large family of internationally renowned sculptors that have survived tumultuous times and experienced both great success and hardships. My father was Claude Nyanhongo, one of the leading founders of the Zimbabwe Sculpture Movement in the 1950’s and 60’s. The Zimbabwe Sculpture Movement is heralded as the most prominent art form to emerge from Africa in the 20th century.
I grew up sculpting with my father and siblings as he taught us how to use simple hand tools to express our stories in stone. As a young adult, I sculpted with them on the weekends while I attended college. During that time, art collectors would come to our studio and purchase my sculptures.
When I completed college, I looked for a job as a salesperson at Chapungu Sculpture Park. Instead, the director, Mr. Roy Guthrie, encouraged me to pursue my talents as an artist. I listened to his guidance and have sculpted around the world ever since.
I evolved my work into metaphorical abstract expression that both honors and transcends my past to become a world artist whose work has been honored in Zimbabwe, France, Netherlands, Denmark, Australia, England, Switzerland, Germany, South Africa and the United States.
My home base remains in Zimbabwe with my family and children but I travel, teach, exhibit and sculpt wherever I can to introduce my work to the world and to seek my living as an artist.
Who or what inspires you?
My father was my foremost inspiration. I am emboldened by the strength and endurance of my people and ancestors and the long history of Shona spirits and sculpture. Nature in all its forms triggers my imagination. The world’s contemporary artists continue to influence the way I ‘see’ and process the world around me and my spiritual life and faith in God reassure and enkindle me with hope, tenacity, and the endurance to continue to meet my challenges with courage. Children inspire me with their ability to play with abandonment and learn with their bodies and minds. Adults motivate me when I witness an open heart and mind that creates the magic of connection, and laughter and smiles always compel me to appreciate the sweetness that embodies all that is.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
While I have had the privilege of receiving sound advice from my elders, mentors, fellow artists, and many others, I receive my most valued advice from nature and all things living. Nature is characterized by the change in motion that occurs as objects are slowly transformed from their potentialities into their actualities - as when an acorn becomes an oak tree. Aristotle understood that the final purpose of something is its essence. Thinkers and creators throughout time have understood that there is an innate purpose to each life. From nature I have learned to understand that there is a vital force that propels one to self-fulfillment. I strive to listen to this vital force despite the noise of the world and make the constant steps towards my own personal ‘essence’. My art is my vehicle to becoming my purpose.
How do you seek out opportunity?
It is always a challenge to find and meet the next opportunity since my work requires stone that must be transported from Zimbabwe to wherever I sculpt or the shipping costs to and from exhibitions. Transportation and travel are expensive but I always believe that I can find ways to exhibit in other countries. I pay attention to the markets that accept work such as mine and I learn from family members and global friends where opportunities may exist. Sometimes I exhibit with family members and we share expenses. Always grateful to the many artists and friends who have assisted me throughout the decades, I remain optimistic with each chance that a gallery or exhibition will eventually prove fruitful.
What role do Artists play in society?
Artists have one of the most essential roles in any society. It is our task to offer potential and vision of a better understanding of life. Since I am always aware that I am representing my homeland and its culture, I strive to honor it in my art and my personal character.
Art can connect people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives and it can help shape and heal personal and collective wounds. Artistic endeavors hold the potential to elicit more empathy, birth new ideas, shift our perceptions and lead to action.
I am aware that I am always an ambassador of a sort – an emissary and messenger seeking to build bridges and connections that can ultimately aid in making our world a more caring and appreciative place. In our present time, I see my role and those of my peers as vital to the survival of our planet and human existence. I am aware of my own flaws, failings, ego, and problems but I still try to envision life from a bigger perspective and do my small part to remain curious, imaginative, and live in wonder.
The more I travel the world, the more I understand how essential it is to live with art that carries its observers through time. I try to sculpt pieces that will continue to speak to people about the essential ideas of love, family, ancestry, adaptability, nature, wounding, togetherness, unity, and celebration of life.
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