Notes

Tapfuma Gutsa was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1956 and studied art at the Driefontein Mission School under Cornelius Manguma. He received a British Council award which enabled him to study sculpture at the City and Guilds School of Art in London from 1982 to 1985. After returning to Zimbabwe, he worked with artist Pat Pearce and the founders of the Triangle International Workshops to establish the Pachipamwe International Art Workshops, the first of which was held at Murewa Culture Centre in 1988, and the second at Cyrene Mission a year later (Pachipamwe is a Shona word meaning 'we come together again'). This model brought young up-and-coming artists together in a creative synergy with more well-established artists. Gutsa established Surprise Studios in Shirugwe, Zimbabwe, in 1997, which provides studio space for professional artists and encourages the exchange of ideas. He has participated in a number of international exhibitions, workshops and residency programmes including African Artists: Changing Traditions at the Studio Museum, Harlem, in 1990, and Uncomfortable Truths: The Shadow of Slave Trading on Contemporary Art at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, in 2007. Gutsa uses a variety of materials in his work beyond the traditional stone, wood and clay, including bone, horn, gourds, paper, string and drawing pins. He now lives and works in Vienna, Austria.