Tizirai Gumbere

Born in 1973 in Bikita District of Masvingo Province, Tizirai started sculpting in 1992.

He worked as an assistant to David Chirambadare for two years before he passed away in 1994.

That same year he joined Newman Chikuni who taught him to produce some carvings of different movement. These were sold in Belgium.

From 1996 up to now, under the guidance of Richard Mupumha and Sylvester Mubayi, Tizirai has produced many sculptures that have found they way into international collections.

He loves to watch his father carve the traditional idols that play such an important part in Shona Sculpture and were instrumental in the development of this type of African Art.

He just has to look at the raw stone to see which will emerge from that particular stone. His interest is in spiritual images and much of his work has been sold overseas in countries like Holland, Canada and Belgium to name a few.