Givemore Mashaya was born in 1982 in Nyanga, a beautiful mountainous region near the Mozambique border with a strong sculpting tradition. The Mashaya family is one of Zimbabwe‘s most respected ‘sculpting clans‘.

Givemore was educated in Nyanga, and completed high school in 1999. He started carving at the age of 16, mentored by two of his older brothers, Ngoni and Passmore, who were already successfully established as artists. “I made up my mind immediately,” he says, “that sculpting would be my lifetime career.”

In 2000 Givemore moved to Harare to take up an apprenticeship at his brothers' sculpting studio. A year later he had the opportunity to work alongside the Nyanhongo family - second generation artists with an international reputation. Givemore says the experience really helped him refine his skills and “let his imagination grow.”

A gifted young artist whose work has great emotional depth, Givemore says that stone sculpting is “a way of writing down the history of Africa and Zimbabwe in a manner that can be easily appreciated by future generations here and around the world.”

“ Give‹rore Mashaya's sculptures are at times serene and at others bursting with energy. An accomplished artist with a beautiful sense of balance, Giveirore is always experimenting with texture and form to bring out all the stone has to offer." Fran Fearnley, former ZimArt Gallery curator.

Givemore prefers working in harder and often more colourful stones. He is a versatile artist and his sources of inspiration include family, women and nature. His goal, he explains, is to enrich the viewer with a deeper understanding of the subject.

Givemore has participated in a number of group exhibitions at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe and private galleries in Harare. His sculptures have been purchased by collectors and galleries from the UK, Germany, Holland, the US, Australia, South Korea and Canada.

Givemore was the featured artist at Shona D‘Afrique VI, in Beaconsfield, Montreal and Rice Lake XI, the eleventh annual exhibition hosted by ZimArt at the Rice Lake Gallery. He also led several successful sculpting workshops.

Givemore is married, with two children, and has been represented in Canada since 2003.