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Article: Shona sculpture movement thrives in Zimbabwe. (Originated from Knight-Ridder Newspapers)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- February 17, 1995
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1995 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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HARARE, Zimbabwe _ On a bright sunny day in August, 1958, the blade of a road grading machine chipped off a piece of soapstone on a mountain trail east of here.
That soft stone glinting in the freshly scraped red earth of Zimbabwe's rocky Eastern Highlands caught the eye of Joram Mariga, a 31-year-old government agricultural official. Mariga never imagined then that his find would trigger the flowering of a nation of African sculptors.
``I was attracted by the color of the stone,'' Mariga remembers as if it were yesterday. ``The stone was translucent. The color was green. It was slippery if you rubbed it with your thumb.''
Mariga took out a small ...