Sylvester  Mubayi

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Born 1942 in Chiota.

The fusion of spiritual and earthly worlds, and of human and animal iconography inspire the work and life of Sylvester Mubayi.  Dedicated to the beliefs and traditions with which he was reared, he is driven to portray in stone, imagery that is fast becoming alien to Westernised Zimbabwean society.  His career as a sculptor began as the birth of the Zimbabwean stone sculpture movement itself took place – as the development unfolded, his sculpture quietly bore witness to the events and characters that have now become so renowned; they were given life and found their voice through the most important stages of the movement and still echo the tremors of those formative times , speaking to future generations of  a remarkable and continually developing art genre. He firmly upholds his belief in his own traditional culture and states simply  “I know my culture- I know how to supplicate my spirits”.

As a young man he moved to Harare to find work and in 1966 he visited the National Gallery( where Frank McEwen’s Workshop School had recently started) and saw the astonishing stone sculpture for the first time.  A chance meeting with Tom Blomefield that same day led to the invitation to join the new sculptor’s community at Tengenenge    ( Guruve).  With no previous artistic experience other than basic lessons during his school years, he joined the now famous sculptors such as Bernard Matemera, Ephraim Chaurika, Lemon Moses , Henry Munyaradzi, Fanizani Akuda, Edward Chiwawa, and Josia Manzi.  However in his first year of sculpting he won the highest award for art in Southern Africa- The Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Award for Sculpture, and established himself as a leading Tengenenge artist.

A fiercely independent artistic spirit, obvious throughout his career, was to force Mubayi to break away from the close community and return once more to Harare.  Here, he formally joined the workshop school and worked alongside artists such as Joseph Ndandarika, Boira Mteki, Charles Ferdinando and Nicholas Mukomberanwa.  Shortly after his arrival, Frank McEwen enlisted his help in establishing a rural community for the group of sculptors- in Nyanga- and named it Vukutu.  The years spent at Vukutu saw the creation of some of Mubayi’s most striking work  for example Skeletal Form, (1972, Serpentine). In this magnificent mountainous setting, he worked with fellow sculptors, John Takawira, Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Bernard Manyandure  and Moses Masaya.  By 1972, however, he moved to his family home in Marondera.  Here, the familiar, but no less inspirational themes of family traditions and values and the close relationships between parents and children began to dictate.  A softer and highly personal touch emerged in pieces such as  Mother of Twins, (1973, Serpentine) and Orphans, (1974, Springstone). The security within this familiar environment was to support Mubayi through difficult years that saw the departure of Frank McEwen and later, the liberation war.  It was at this time that the important friendship and working relationship with Roy Guthrie began, an association still strong today with Mubayi enjoying “Invited Artist” status at Chapungu.  His work, which received great international acclaim from exhibitions dating back to 1971, is remarkable for its spiritual power.

In 1981, he was described by Frank McEwan as “ the greatest sculptor of this century and one of the greatest of all time.”  Certainly Mubayi is capable of creating works so powerful and uncompromising that one flinches before them, and others so tender and emotive that one is deeply moved.  A committed family and community man, he is as proud of his amateur soccer team he founded, as he is non committal about his sculptural achievements.