York's Shona Gallery
The
Blog
Stories of the artists and peoples behind the work: the sculptors, tribes, and traditions that have shaped our collection.
Richard Mteki
Richard Mteki was born in 1947 in Harare, Zimbabwe, the younger brother of the celebrated sculptor Boira Mteki. Growing up in proximity to one of the country's great artists planted...
Gerald Takawira
Gerald Takawira was born in 1959 into one of Zimbabwe’s most celebrated sculptural families. The Takawira name is inseparable from the history of the Shona sculptural movement: John Takawira, Gerald’...
Pfungwa Dziike
Pfungwa Dziike was born in 1975 in Harare and began sculpting in the late 1990s, studying under established Shona artists before finding his own formal language. The name Pfungwa, meaning...
Tinashe Makaza
Tinashe Makaza was born in 1980 and belongs to the youngest generation of sculptors in York’s Shona Gallery’s representation. He came of age as Zimbabwe’s 2000s economic crisis disrupted cultural...
Douglas Benhura
Douglas Benhura is among the most internationally recognized Shona sculptors of his generation, celebrated for a body of work that has found audiences and collectors on every continent. Born in...
Lincon Muteta
Lincon Muteta was born in 1978 in Harare and represents the fourth generation of the Shona sculptural tradition, artists who came of age not in the founding moment of the...
The Shona Tribe
The Shona are the largest indigenous group in Zimbabwe, comprising roughly 80 percent of the country's population and divided into five principal clans: the Karanga, Zezuru, Korekore, Manyika, and Nda...