Edious (Eddy) Nyagweta was born in Rusape, 70 kilometres east of Zimbabwe’s capital Harare, in 1978. Like many children living in rural areas, he tended cattle when not at school, in order to help his family pay for school fees.

Rusape was home to one of Zimbabwe’s most internationally acclaimed painters, Thomas Mukarobgwa (1924—1999), who was also a stone sculptor. Eddy would visit him as a child and he explains that he was so impressed by the creative life that he decided he wanted to explore his own ideas through art. With the support and en¬couragement of his mentor, Eddy started stone sculpting while still in primary school.

He continued to sculpt on his own through secondary school. Then in 2001 he was discovered by a German collector, Hans Dietrich Hubert, who invited him to show his sculptures in a series of exhibitions in Germany. Eddy has returned to Germany many times since and has frequently given sculpting workshops and sculpting demonstrations. He feels that his overseas experiences have helped him mature as an artist and broaden his vision.

Eddy’s sculptures are inspired by human relationships and what can be learned from biblical stories and the legends and culture of the Shona people. He has a distinctive bold style. He has mastered a form of relief sculpting that he uses at times as part of his storytelling.

Eddy’s work has continued to be very popular with German collectors and his dynamic sculptures have also sold to galleries and collectors in Belgium, the UK, the US, France and Canada.

Eddy works from his rural home studio in Dema, about 50 kilometres from Harare. He has been represented in Canada since 2016.