African Sculpture Garden
The cache is hidden in the midst of a ‘garden’ full of stone (mainly) and wood sculptures by Zimbabwean artists. The pieces range in size (and weight!) from less than a kilo to over a ton and of course in price. In the current economic conditions you are even more likely to find a real bargain!
This is one of two such places near here – the other being located at Cape Farmhouse at the junction just up the road heading towards Cape Point.
Note: the cache should only be done during opening hours which are daily from 0700-dusk.
Zimbabwe Stone Sculptures
During the past 30 years, stone sculpture from Zimbabwe has received worldwide acclaim. Newsweek hailed it as "perhaps the most important new art form to emerge from Africa in this Century." The New York Times stated that Shona sculpture is "unlike art found in much of the rest of Africa, Shona sculpture ... has become a wholly indigenous modern art form created exclusively as a forum of artistic expression."
When Rhodesia gained its independence from Great Britain in 1980, it changed its name to Zimbabwe, meaning "house of stone". It is an appropriate name considering that the Shona, the largest population group in Zimbabwe, are known for generating master stone carvers whose work is included in some of the world’s most important contemporary art collections.
Unlike more traditional African art forms, such as Benin bronzes from Nigeria, Shona art is inspired by spiritual beliefs, folk lore and modern life.
The rock in Zimbabwe is amongst the oldest on Earth and the country is rich in serpentine, verdite and granite. In creating their works, carvers draw upon a sculpting tradition dating back to the 10th and 11th centuries, giving their pieces an ancient effect. Yet, at the same time, there is a clear resemblance to modern works by Picasso and Miro, although most Zimbabwean sculptors of the 1st & 2nd generation have never been exposed to such Western art.
Carvers usually work outdoors, often sitting in the shade of an acacia tree. They use files, hammers, chisels and sand-paper to shape the stone into images perceived while meditating or dreaming.
The process is quite fascinating as the artist merely begins with a slab of stone. Patiently each piece is chiseled and carved into his or her own creation. Once a sculpture is complete, the artist heats it next to a large fire to a high temperature then the porous stone is covered with transparent beeswax. As the hot stone and the beeswax meld, the colour of the stone comes to life and once cooled the sculpture is buffed, creating a smooth, polished finish.
Subjects are often people - depicted embracing, dancing, meditating or dreaming - or animals, such as hippos, giraffes, elephants and fish. Sculptures are often deeply religious or mystical expressing Shona beliefs in the power of dreams, the spiritual nature of all things and the connection between creatures.
Other sculptors create stone images of tribal chieftains or Chaminuka, the omniscient god of the Shona religion.
Zimbabwe stone sculptures are found in major collections at the Rodin Museum in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in new York City and the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and are owned by many private collectors and celebrities such as the Rockefellers, the Prince of Wales, the Rothchilds and Sir Richard Attenborough. Numerous fine examples of the sculptures may be found in a section of the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.
Eddington, the young Zimbabwean curator of the garden confirmed to me that the sculptors are having a pretty hard time at the moment as the economic crisis means that even fewer people have spare cash to invest in such decorative, non-essentials.
The cache
This is a black-taped, lock-top (align the arrowheads) plastic pot hidden near a big, old wooden hippo with a wounded rump. Please return the cache carefully to its arboreal hidey hole so that it is properly concealed and protected. Note: GPSr accuracy was a little compromised by the tree cover here but the description should get you to the right spot easily enough. Thanks to the owners for kindly granting permission for the cache to be placed here - if you get really stuck you may get help on the spot.