Zimbabwe: Carving out a Living

From Zimbabwe 2010 Photo Album

We took a side tour to visit a local stone carving artist. The stones that they are working in are serpentine, soapstone, rappoko, and springstone. Carvings can be found for sale everywhere along the side of the road and at markets.

Our driver wound his way through side streets and alleyways until we pulled into a driveway and were in carving heaven!! We passed piles of stone and rocks strewn all around and dust flying everywhere.

The grounds were covered with carvings for sale. Garden lovers would take one of everything we saw. Some large carvings were over one metre high and very heavy.

From Zimbabwe 2010 Photo Album

The first stage of carving was simple chipping away of the rock so that a rough form could be “imagined.” This time-consuming use of chisels continues and the imagination and talent of the artist transforms the piece into a mother and child, or a Big 5 animal display: elephant, tiger, water buffalo, cheetah, and giraffe. Free-form figures of families are popular as they are carved to show the entwining parents and child(ren) or animal families interconnected. Sidney and I adored the giraffe family carving seen here. If only it was one fifth the size and light enough to carry!

When the final carving is completed the figure goes to the sander who has a bowl of water and fine sandpaper. The wet sanding smooths the stone. Finally the carving is polished to a high shine and displayed on the shelf. As the light was fading – remember it’s winter in Zimbabwe and it gets dark by 5:30 pm – we were squinting in the showroom, which had no electricity, trying to find just the right size, style, and colour of carving. Leslie worked her bartering magic and came away with an armful of treasures.

Imagine if you will the cool winter air in Harare and the small fires the artists make to try to stay warm as they sit for hours shaping and perfecting their carving. A fine layer of white stone dust covered the artists, the leaves, trees, plants, and horizontal surfaces in the open courtyard. We wove our way through the crowded courtyard on a guided tour. It was fascinating to watch the complete process, (although one piece takes days, weeks, or months to finish, depending on its size) by wandering around going from station to station.

We have bought carvings from various markets to take home. Our end is near and we want something special to remember our Zim experience – other than the children – whom we can’t take home!!

One more sleep to go before we return home.

Helen Scott
for the ZZZZZZZZZZZim team

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