Fanizani Akuda (1932-2011)
Fanizani was born in Zambia, and came to Zimbabwe in 1949. He worked on Tom Blomefield’s Tengenenge farm where the famous sculpture community was based. In 1966, Tom gave him a set of sculpting tools and encouraged him to experiment with the stone. His early work showed promise and he was hooked: sculpting became his life-long career.
In the late 1970s, Fanizani decided to move to the city, to escape the disruption of the war of independence. He continued sculpting right up until his death when he was nearly eighty and was a much-loved character within the Harare art community. His work has been exhibited worldwide for decades and is in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe as well as many private collections. Career highlights include:
- International Sculpture Symposium, Borkel en Schaft, Netherlands (1990s)
- Featured in book ‘Sculptors from Zimbabwe: The First Generation’ by Ben Joosten (1991)
- ‘The Legend of Zimbabwe’s Stone Sculpture: Fanizani Akuda’, solo retrospective, National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe (2005)
- ‘Master Sculptors of Zimbabwe’, Group exhibition, Netherlands (2005) and Italy (2006)
Fanizani passed away in 2011 and is much missed.
We also have a few pieces of Fanizani’s work that are not yet on the web gallery. If you are interested, please contact us and we can send you photos.
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