Tapiwa Mapuranga was born in 1971 in Nyanga, a mountainous region near Mozambique, with a strong sculpting tradition. Two of the founding families of the Shona art movement – the Nyanhongos and the Marigas – describe Nyanga as their rural and spiritual home.

Tapiwa calls himself a “late to bloom” artist. Although he enjoyed wood carving and drawing in school, Tapiwa had no experience with stone carving until 1998, when he was offered a formal apprenticeship with master carver, Claud Nyanhongo (1934— 2006). For six months he worked on sanding and polishing the works of the senior artists at the studio before he picked up any tools.

As soon as Tapiwa started carving he says he knew this was his destiny. “I am fasci¬nated by the human figure and women in particular. I observe them going about their daily work and try to create their emotion and movement in stone.” He continues, “I try to capture the spiritual aspects of humanity and nature in my sculptures.”

In 1999 Tapiwa participated in a group exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Mutare. The next year Gideon Nyanhongo invited him to become a resident artist at the family’s studio in Harare, one of the most prestigious studios in the country, where he remained until 2004.

In 2005 Tapiwa decided to work exclusively from his home studio and to start a mentorship program for younger aspiring sculptors. It’s a program he has continued to this day at his rural home studio in Goromonzi.

Tapiwa loves to sculpt in the colourful Nyanga serpentines, finding the stone itself a source of inspiration. His beautifully expressive sculptures represent evocative vignettes of the Shona culture and people. His work has sold to collectors and galleries in Germany, Holland, Israel, the UK, US and Canada.

Tapiwa has been represented in Canada since 2009.