Simoriro Chikuruwo

Simoriro Chikuruwo was born on the 4th of June 1961 in the Chikomba district of eastern Zimbabwe.

He went to Nangabwe School where he learnt sculpture on soapstone at the end of 12 or 13 years.

After school he initially worked as a storeroom assist ant for the Ministry of Transport and he started craft work as a hobby.

Eventually in 1995, he consolidated his hobby and school experience to take up sculpting as a full-time career. He now has a workshop at the Chitungwiza Arts Centre outside Harare.

He says that his inspiration comes from the work of Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Henry Munyaradzi and Sylvester Mubavi in particular. He regards them as founders of the Shona Sculpture movement and he has participated in joint exhibitions with these and other well known artists at prestigious Harare gallery such as Shades of Africa and the Springstone Gallery. His work has also been shown in Washington DC, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom and many other countries.

A strong believer in the Shona Traditions, he has always been interested in the history of the Shona people in their culture and society even as a child. He is also a licensed traditional healer and a Mhondoro or rain spirit medium who asks the spirit for the life-giving rain.