SINDI Gallery’s Washington Musonza who was born in 1966 in Makumbe, Domboshava, affectionately recalls his early childhood when he was mentored in carving cooking sticks and cattle yokes on the soft Mufufu tree branches.
The war of liberation disturbed his schooling which he had started in 1973 and his journey to Ordinary Level education stretched for 14 years to 1987 when he wrote his exams.
Musonza had a strong technical mindset and had already impacted his Makumbe community after excelling in Carpentry and Building subjects in school. His brother-in-law, the legendary Albert Nathan Mamvura, who was married to his sister Anna, coaxed him into sculpturing when he visited his Domboshawa home and that was the beginning of his illustrious journey as a sculptor.
Musonza’s early works were human heads and small animals carved on soft stones. Despite the artworks impressing other people, his brother-in-law, who umpired the works, always insisted that there was vast room for improvement if he worked with precision and conviction.
Mamvura reviewed four of the five heads he carved and accepted only one of them as saleable. Ironically, in no time, one of the small busts, a lizard, impressed a buyer who paid for it with a smile. This was good enough to energise him into the man he is today.
Since those early days Musonza has, indeed, vastly matured in his art and his artworks at the Tsindi Gallery, along Airport Road in Hatfield says it all.
Musonza dedicates his time to a careful selection of hard stones that allow for a fine shine surface, while the unpolished details signify ups and downs in life. Several of his carvings revolve around the themes of family, love, care and socio-economic security.
“The first one, Woman in Dreams, is a two-metre high springstone statuette with a male partner grabbing her nervous fiancée from behind. This is all happening in a dream, every girl dreams of a future fortified by a loving husband who provides and cares in every way. Woman in Dream is a mixed creation of abstract faces with serious attention to detail on hair and clothing to give that tantalising aesthetic of beauty,” Musonza said.
- Musonza on protection of women through stone art
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“Women need all kinds of protection; this second carving is a silent language which is heavily stronger than words. Couples in Love provoke mindsets to think about the best ways to keep themselves in love. Love is blind and people teach each other how to live happily.
“And this abstract is called First Wave and it reminds people of the experience of visiting sea beaches when waves of water create exciting scenes which uplifts emotions and often cause more romantic experiences. Waves often create hard-to-come-by lifetime experiences,” he added.
First Time Lovers and Mothers Love are Musonza’s thought-provoking must see figurines from which several debates may emerge and lessons drawn. Musonza describes his Mother’s Love as a lesson to girls and boys that they have to exercise self-control and prepare for their future.
“On Mother’s Love I portray consequences of unplanned sexual relationships when a pregnant girl is left with going back to her mother to seek comfort and social protection as the only available option and solution. Parental love knows no age and can transcend generations.”
Musonza admits that economic challenges are a normal experience in every part of the world and there is nothing like a perfect economy.
“Our economic environment as visual artists is bettered by frequent tourist visits and a transactional platform that enables marketing and selling of our unique products.
“This figurine is called a Helping Hand, when one gets pricked by a thorn one definitely deserves a helping hand as first aid to remove the thorn. This is then symbolic of a person in serious difficulty of either danger or any form of disturbing situation. The process of getting out of this danger could be equally painful and strenuous. And, therefore, requires a lot of caution.”
Musonza describes the year 2023 as a difficult year and a learning phase in his life.
“Things have not yet taken good shape since the time of COVID-19 and even to date there are still several fears of travelling and carrying out business.
“Buyers are not coming not only because of the badly portrayed economic situation in Zimbabwe but because of several wars and political tensions which have restricted commerce,” he added.
