Dominic Benhura
Born 1968 in Murewa.Dominic Benhura was born in a small town of Murewa, some 100 kilometres north east of Zimbabwe’s capital city Harare. His father died before he was born and he was raised by his mother in humble rural circumstances. At the age of ten, Benhura went to live in Harare with his cousin Tapfuma Gutsa, an established sculptor in his own right, who introduced Benhura to art and culture.
Tapfuma gained art and wood carving experience from Serima Mission and quickly became Benhura’s friend and mentor. Benhura began to help Gutsa polish pieces, later trying his hand at chisel and hammer, eventually carving small off cuts before moving onto large stone. Gutsa continued to support, nurture and encourage Benhura and was pleased to see the young man develop his own individual style. Selling his first work to architects at the age of twelve, sculpting became a passion for Benhura who would hurry home from school to work on his pieces. After achieving excellent school results, he turned to sculpting full time and in 1987 he began to take his work to Chapungu Sculpture Park. In 1990, he joined the resident’s programme at Chapungu and stayed there until 1995, when he acquired his new home in Athlone, Harare. At Chapungu he was encouraged to work on larger and more demanding stone and this period saw the introduction of his plant forms, including the PawPaw Tree, Euphorbia and Calabashes.
Benhura worked tirelessly for long hours at Chapungu, extending himself mentally, physically and creatively. By 1995, he was regarded as being amongst the most important second generation artists, his work sought after by both local and overseas collectors. These years also marked the beginning of overseas travel and he attended workshops in Botswana, United States, Belgium, Holland, Denmark and Germany. These travels broadened his outlook and brought much acclaim to his sculpture. Through the years, his willingness to innovate and experiment has led to many new techniques being included in his sculpture. Threading cored stone onto metal, using nails bound together then glued into stone to depict thorns, inlaying stone with a combination of different texture in the stone, these qualities, together with his urge to discover and use new and harder stones set him apart.
Benhura refuses to limit himself to stone and freely uses any materials and techniques available, he does not want to be categorized. He is a young Zimbabwean who has chosen art as his career and believes that the only truth is within himself and his own experiences. He shuns books on art and says of his lack of formal art training; “I don’t miss that. It is better my work is my own.” Unlike many of his contemporaries, he scketches profusely and keeps a sketch book close at hand in order to record ideas as they come to him. Once he has selected the rock he needs for a certain sketch he destroys the sketch so that it no longer influences him. “It is now between me and the stone”, he says.
Benhura has attended over thirty one man exhibitions of his work all over the world including, Australia, South Africa, The United States of America and Europe. He is probably now amongst Africa’s most admired artists.