Borrowed forklifts offload blocks of stone

Artist Chenjerai Chiripanyanga was trained in Italy and spends two to three months a year in Europe giving lessons in sculpture and art. He explained the logistics behind the artwork to FTW. The artists travel to districts across the breadth of Zimbabwe to source the raw stone. Springstone mines are in the Mvurwi area in northern Zimbabwe; leopard rock comes from a few small mines in Nyanga, eastern Zimbabwe; fruit serpentine comes from the Kwekwe area south-west of Harare; and “opal stone” (a soft pale green serpentine) comes from Chiweshe, north of Harare. Once selected and paid for the stone is loaded onto bakkies or medium trucks and taken to the sculpture parks – where the artists both exhibit and work. Off loading of blocks of stone that can weigh several hundred kilograms is done by a borrowed forklift or – in the case of Chipiri Rudunga from the Chapungu Sculpture Park in Avondale, Harare – a block and tackle hoist used by his mechanic brother to manoeuvre engines in and out of cars. Once the process is reversed, the forklift or block and tackle is used to load the bakkie to be taken to the customer or to a warehouse for crating. Other artists or their agents pack the pieces on site for shipping. Forwarders then take responsibility for delivering the work to the collector or to one of the galleries abroad which specialise in Zimbabwean stone work. Consignments are consolidated in Harare or South Africa. Pieces can also be sent by courier and airfreighted rather than travelling by sea – depending on the requirements of the customer. CAPTION Chenjerai Chiripanyanga – you will find the internationally known artist exhibiting his work alongside the Joshua Nkomo express highway (better known as the airport road) between Harare International and the city centre, or on the Interne