“They are wondering what game to play to amuse themselves.”
The boys have been orphaned. The older brother feels the heavy responsibility of looking after the younger one. So the sculpture has two levels of meaning – not just the here and now issue of entertaining the little one, but in the longer term they must think of some way to provide for themselves.
“The spirits will look after them, and give them an idea of how to survive.”
‘Cobalt’ stone is the local Zimbabwean name for a purple and green variety of serpentine stonethat comes from Chiweshe, north of Harare. This piece is particularly unusual, with amazing splashes of colour and intricate patterns within the stone. As far as we know, it does NOT contain any cobalt, but may have originally been discovered near a cobalt mine, hence the name.
