David Sibanda was born in 1978 in Zvishavane in the Zambezi Valley. In 1995 after finishing high school, David, who had always enjoyed art at school, started to paint watercolours and play mbira (a traditional Zimbabwean thumb piano) professionally, although completely self-taught. Four years later he met a German art collector who bought his paintings and also encouraged him to explore wood sculpting. David was immediately enchanted by the process and moved effortlessly from painting to wood carving.

“My art is guided by the natural features of the wood,” David explains. “And I found Mopani wood was so inspirational.” David remained in his rural area carving from this rare indigenous wood, with the blessing of the local chief, who also encouraged him to teach others. He sold his unique sculptures to collectors and tourists on the main road to the Zambezi River.

In 2007 David went to Harare to pursue both his sculpting and his musical aspirations. This was his first opportunity to meet stone sculptors and see the possibilities of this medium. He started to explore stone sculpting on his own, while also making and playing mbira. By 2010 he had discovered a way of integrating the two media he had come to love working with, stone and wood, which he still sources from the Zambezi Valley.

David says he feels music in his mind while he is sculpting. His mixed media sculptures have a compelling quality, while being contemporary, they are also a celebration of the Shona people’s ancient traditions and beliefs.

David’s distinctive mixed media sculptures have sold to collectors and galleries in Germany, South Korea, the U.K., France and Canada.

David has been represented in Canada since 2012.