Dominic Benhura was born in 1968 in a small town of Murewa, some100 kilometres north east of Zimbabwe's capital city, Harare. Hisfather died before he was born, and he was raised by his mother.Benhura excelled at the local primary school and it was suggestedthat he attend school in Harare. His uncle Sekuru Gutsa had a familyhome in the high density suburb of Tafara, in Harare and it was here,at the age of ten, that Benhura went to live with his cousin TapfumaGutsa, an established sculptor in his own right, who introducedBenhura to art and sculpture.

 

Gutsa had gained art and wood carving experience at SerimaMission, and quickly became Benhura's friend and mentor. Benhurabegan to help Gutsa polish his pieces, later trying his hand atchisel and hammer, eventually carving small offcuts before movingonto large stone. Gutsa continued to support, nature and encourageBenhura and was pleased to see the young man develop his ownindividual style. Selling his first work to architects at the age oftwelve, sculpting became a passion for Benhura who would hurry homefrom school to work on his pieces. After achieving excellent schoolresults, he turned to sculpting full time and in 1987 he began totake his work to Chapungu Sculpture Park. In 1990, he joined theresident's programme and stayed there until 1995, when he acquiredhis new home in Athlone, Harare. At Chapungu he was encouraged towork on larger and more demanding stone and this period saw theintroduction of his plant forms, including the "PawPaw Tree","Euphorbia", and "Calabashes".

 

Benhura worked tirelessly for long hours at Chapungu, extendinghimself mentally, physically and creatively. By 1995 he was regardedas being amongst the most important second generation artists, hiswork sought after by both local and overseas collectors. These yearsalso marked the beginning of overseas travel and he attendedworkshops in Botswana, United States, Belgium, Holland, Denmark andGermany. These travels broadened his outlook and brought muchacclaim. Through the years, his willingness to innovate andexperiment has led to many new techniques being included in hissculpture; threading cored stone onto metal rods, using nails boundtogether and then glued into stone to depict thorns.

 

Benhura however, refuses to limit himself to stone and freely usesany materials and techniques available. He is a young Zimbabwean whohas chosen art as his career and believes that the only truth iswithin himself and his own experiences. He shuns books on art andsays of his lack of formal art training: "I don't miss that. It isbetter my work is my own." Unlike many of his contemporaries, hesketches profusely and keeps a sketch book close at hand in order torecord ideas as they come to him. Once he has selected the rock heneeds for a certain sketch he abandons the sketch so that it does notdictate to him, letting his moods and feelings together with theintrinsic characteristics of the stone, control the final outcome.Acknowledged as a reader his recent massive work "Our HIV Friend" isan epic and further consolidates his position. Carved from a single 3metre block of Spring Stone it talks openly of the terrible scourgeof the Aids epidemic and the need for support from family andfriends.