Visitor's Comments

Comments from the visitor books of Botanic Gardens

“The memory of the wonderful exhibition last year is still present in Hamburg.  One of the reasons for the great success is that the Chapungu sculptures speak a language that is understandable to all peoples – perhaps because we all have the same roots.”

1998       Loki Schmidt wife of Chancellor Helmet Schmidt, Hamburg Botanical Gardens, Germany

“Moving, inspirational, challenging and absolutely awesome.  As a Caribbean woman, the sculptures are a journey of reflection and reconnection with spirit.  Thank You!”

2000      Kew Gardens, London

“Bringing the Chapungu exhibition to the gardens was a masterstroke.  You did more for art appreciation than anything the St. Louis Museum has ever put together in my memory – including the Van Gogh and Monet exhibitions.”

2001       Missouri Botanic Gardens

“The sculptures on exhibit were moving beyond words; the natural beauty and power of the stone, the artist’s interpretations, and the wise and beautiful words accompanying each work, touched me in a way I have not known before.”

2001       Missouri Botanic Gardens

“I came back to say goodbye today.  I’ve come many times to enjoy these sculptures throughout the summer.  They made me laugh, sing, dance, cry and appreciate life.  Thanks for the “food” for the soul!”

2001       Missouri Botanic Gardens

“A remarkable expression of timeless powers conveyed in a fashion that will endure as long as humans seek to match their daily experiences with the rhythms of spiritual life.  Your exhibition brings out of Africa a vibrant expression that is welcome and needed in North America.”

2002       Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona

“The spirit in the stones and the messages they bring reach out and touch us.  As an African-American, it is rewarding me with the greatness of my people.”

2002       Boyce Thompson Arboretum, Arizona

“The Chapungu exhibit, to us, at any rate, almost exaggerated the brittle sense of language.  I have seen my share of art, and in all the great and proper places, but I have never wept, or lost my breath, or felt as if my body were shedding space, or become supremely dumb and purely liquid in the head, and as finely alone, as I did on that day while the forms of Chapungu let me ride on the contour of very old and universal and unbegotten silences.”

2003       Red Butte Gardens, Utah

“The exhibit was wonderful!! As a woman, as a healer, as a human, I was deeply moved at the creativity, the tenacity of the artists, their expression of soul.”

2004       Denver Botanic Gardens, Colorado

“Right here at home, I was taken to a land far away. What an adventure!”

2005       Franklin Park Conservatory, Ohio

“One of the most serene and spiritual combinations of sculpture and setting I’ve ever experienced.

Thank you!”

2005       Franklin Park Conservatory, Ohio

“This is the most profound work that I have ever experienced in my life.  Thank you all for sharing your souls, your lives and your stories with the world.”