Zimbabwe Artists Project

 
Veronica was born in 1959. She came to Weya in 1982 as the second wife of her husband. She has three children, ages nine to nineteen. Veronica learned to do art in 1988. She felt it was a thing she could do as a woman, and she needed money. “I am a full-time housewife who [...]

Tima was born in 1971. She completed her “O Levels” – equivalent of 10th grade – in 1989 and then learned sadza painting. She was married in 1991 and moved away, returning to Weya in 1997 after her husband died. She has remarried and has three children.
 
Tima decided to learn to paint because “I realized [...]

 
Rhoda was born in Harare in 1960. She went to school through Grade 7, stopping then because her mother had died and her father, whose work as a driver kept him on the move, was not able to find her a place in Form 1. She married in 1979 and has four children. A sister [...]

Promise was born in 1966. He was raised in Gweru and was sent to school for Coloureds (people of mixed race) because his surname seemed like a Coloured name to the Rhodesian authorities. Special Rhodesian subsidies for the education of Coloureds ended with Zimbabwean independence and Promise had to drop out of school because his [...]

Nerissa was born in 1963. She is married to the Headman of Mugadza village who is a builder. They have 6 children. She learned to do appliqué from Ilse Noy in 1987 at the Weya Community Training Centre. The proceeds of her art pay for school fees for her children and other family needs. “It [...]

Grace was born in 1962, the fifth-born of eight children. (Two of Grace’s brothers, David and Richard, are also artists.) She attended school through Grade 7, stopping because “for girls, our parents just wanted us to read and write.” She was married in 1981 and divorced in 1984. She learned to paint in 1991 at [...]

Ajasi was born in Marondera in 1972, the third of ten children. He stopped school after 8th grade. “
I was excellent at school, but money was a problem.” He enjoyed doing art in school, but was taught to be a painter by his wife, Auxillia, who was trained at Weya. He painted pottery between 1998 [...]

 
Beauty was born in 1969. She has three children, ages 9 – 12. She learned to paint in 1988. “I paint because it helps me with house costs: soap, school fees for children, and other household expenses. I got married with a man who wasn’t formally trained (as a builder) and who isn’t regularly employed. [...]