Dominic Benhura

Visual Artist

Hailing from Murehwa and considered a revered member of the second generation of Zimbabwean stone sculptors, Dominic Benhura was born in 1968. Before his birth, his father passed away and he was raised by his mother.

Academically gifted, Dominic excelled at the primary school level and a decision was made to transfer him to Harare where he ended up staying with a cousin Tapfuma Gutsa an already accomplished stone sculptor.

It is Tapfuma Gutsa who introduced Dominic to stone sculpting at a very tender age of ten years.

At that very tender age, he eventually started carving small off-cuts before moving onto large stones. An elated Tapfuma Gutsa mentored, supported, and nurtured him. He encouraged Dominic to soldier on. Through that process, a unique individual stone sculpting style peculiar to Dominic was birthed.

By age twelve, Dominic was already selling his first artworks to architects while sculpting became a passion for him. He frequently dashed home from school to work on his pieces. A stone sculptor of repute was born destined to travel a colourful stone carving journey amassing an avalanche of accolades and awards along the way hitherto.

Dominic started sculpting full-time upon finishing schooling. Chapungu Sculpture Park as a creative space was the launchpad for him to blossom and he flaunted his artworks for the first time in 1987 at this place while joining the resident artists program there in 1990, staying until acquiring a home in Athlone, Harare, in 1995.

Through the program he worked on larger pieces; he also began travelling during this period, attending workshops in Botswana, the United States, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. He began to add metal to his stone sculptures.

Over the years Dominic earned several awards both local and international. These include the NAMA Certification of Merit for Nomination in the Outstanding Mixed Media Category (2010), the University of Zimbabwe Chapter recognition as a distinguished honouree (2010) and The World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child.

Also, he won 5 other NAMA accolades and several National Gallery of Zimbabwe awards like the National Gallery of Zimbabwe Award of Distinction in the Visual Arts (1997). His stature as an international iconic sculptor is buttressed by permanent displays like the USA: Benson park Colorado and Atlanta Airport and South Africa: Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Dominic Benhura today remains a well-regarded stone sculptor in Zimbabwe, Africa and internationally. He is so influential that other sculptors are products of his Dominic Studios.

The name Dominic Benhura is now synonymous with stone sculpting. Acknowledged as a leader in stone sculpting, his massive work “Our HIV Friend” is an epic and further consolidates his position. Carved from a single 3 metre block of Spring Stone it talks openly of the terrible scourge of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the need for support from family and friends.—NACZ.