Blending Zimbabwean Art and Culture
NATIONAL
ART GALLERY
The Zimbabwe National Gallery is a gallery in Harare
devoted to the exhibition and restoration of the modern art and visual heritage
of Zimbabwe. Frank McEwen, a British citizen credited with bringing Shona
Sculpture to the spotlight, designed and directed the original National Gallery
of Rhodesia. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother formally opened the Gallery on 16
July 1957 and the late Queen Elizabeth II attended the sixth Zimbabwe Heritage
Exhibition there in October 1991. From a personal point of view, every time I
visit the gallery I bump into so many thought-provoking pieces, from poetry,
paintings to sculptures. The experience is always worthwhile.
CHAPUNGU
SCULPTURE PARK
In Masasa, Harare, Zimbabwe, Chapungu Sculpture Park is
a sculpture park showcasing the work of Zimbabwean stone sculptors. It was
created by Roy Guthrie in 1970, who played a key role in promoting the work of his
sculptors worldwide. One way to do this was to display the sculptures in a
traveling show called "Chapungu: Tradition and Legend-A Civilization in
Stone" in the Botanical Gardens. Chapungu has one of the largest
Zimbabwean Stone Sculpture collection in the world! If you visit, it would be
nice to leave with a souvenir from their boutiques there. Again, to my food
lovers, the Cocoa Tree provides a welcome stop for coffee, tasty chocolates,
and cakes, and The Shop Café uses fresh produce to create a healthy, creative
and tasty vegetarian buffet lunch. This a must-visit place.
MATOBO
NATIONAL PARK
If you are more into natural sculptures then you
better be on your way to Matobo hills. Matopo/Matobo is a corruption of a Venda
word, "matombo" which means stones in Tshivenda. The heart of the
Matobo or Matopos Hills, a region of granite kopjes and wooded valleys
beginning some 35 kilometers south of Bulawayo, southern Zimbabwe, forms the
Matobo National Park. Over 2 billion years ago, the hills were formed with granite
forced to the surface, which eroded to produce smooth "whaleback
dwalas" and broken kopjes, strewn with boulders and interspersed with
thickets of vegetation. Geography students would enjoy this tour. The grave of
Cecil Rhodes, founder of former British colony Rhodesia, is carved into the
summit of Malindidzimu. Now there is both art and culture in one place.