Zimbabwe Artists Project

We have done our best to accurately represent our artwork in the digital photographs we have taken.  However, colors may vary from the actual pieces due to the translation and reproduction limits of photography, the limitations of viewing photos at website resolutions, and the variable color resolution of individual monitors.
Returns:
At ZAP, we are not happy [...]

Sylvia was born in 1975 in Mt. Darwin, the 3rd born of 5 children.  She finished Grade 7 and then left school because her family didn’t have enough money for her to continue.  She stayed home until 1995, when she married and moved to Runyange, a village in Weya.  She has 2 children, born in [...]

Placcedes was born in Murehwa in 1966, the fourth of eight children.  She went to school through 10th grade.  She was married in 1986 and moved to Weya with her husband.  She has three children, born between 1987 and 1997.  Placcedes’ husband , Shepherd, died in 1998.
Placcedes has been sewing clothes for children since 1985 [...]

Mavis was born near Headlands in 1956, the second of nine children.  Her father worked at the Inyati mine.  She stayed in school up until 1970, finishing grade 7, after which there was no money for her to continue.  She stayed at home until 1975 when she married and moved to Mugadza village in Weya.  [...]

Elizabeth was born in 1969. She stopped attending school after Grade 7, because her parents didn’t have the money for her to continue. She is married and has three children. Her husband currently has no income, so she is the sole support for her family.
Elizabeth learned embroidery in 1993, “for self-reliance. [...]

Precious was born in Chivu in 1969, one of 5 children.  She attended school through eighth grade, stopping for lack of money to continue.  She is a single mother of her daughter, Nyasha, who was born in 1996.  Precious came to Weya in 2000 at the invitation of her aunt, appliqué-maker Agnes Mpofu, so that [...]

Ceresencia was born in 1965 in Weya, the fifth born of six children.  She studied until 7th grade, stopping because her parents didn’t have enough money to pay for further schooling.  She married in 1984 and has five children.  Her husband died in 2002.
Ceresencia began to do art in 2003 because she wanted her children [...]

Melania was born in 1971 in Chiendambuya.  She is married and has two children, Richard and Tariro.  “I started sadza painting in the year 1988 at Weya Training Centre.  We were taught by a German lady, Ilse Noy.  When I joined it was very hard for me to draw a topic and a story.  But [...]

Leticia was born in 1965 and studied through the seventh grade.  She is divorced and has one son.  Se began learning to do art in 1988 – “because I am a single parent” – first doing embroidery and then taking up sadza painting.  Her favorite topics are chenura (bringing the ancestral spirits home), fishing, and [...]

Maggie was born in Weya in 1975.  She finished secondary school. She is not married and has no children.  She began trying sadza painting in late 1999 after having watched her sister Tima paint for years.  “I am trying to see how good I am in art.”