Joram Mariga

"Joram Mariga"' (1927-December, 2000) was a Zimbabwean sculptor.

Born in Nyanga, Mariga was the son of artistic parents, and would often watch his father and brother at work carving wood; his mother made open-fired ceramics. He began by carving wood, soon moving on to soft stones such as steatite; later in his career, he found harder, more colorful stones to work with, and made these his material of choice.

Much of Mariga's work includes themes drawn from the culture of the Shona people, and incorporates subject matter taken from nature. Besides being a sculptor, Mariga was also a teacher, counting among his students Crispen Chakanyuka, John and Bernard Takawira (his nephews), Bernard Manyadure, Kingsley Sambo, and Moses Masaya. He would also take students from further afield, generally while traveling.

Mariga was among the first artists to study at Frank McEwen's Workshop Studio, and some time later McEwen would remember him thus:

The sculptural expansion developed in only 34 years. To give a true example, among others arriving from different parts of the country came Joram Mariga. He was not the first to come to the workshop, but one of the best...He brought me a little milk jug carved in soft stone. I realised this was an English milk jug for an Englishman who loved his tea! I asked if he could make a head. The head came, make also for an Englishman, in the style of airport art as acquired by tourists. "If you made a figure for your own family or your ancestors?" I asked. "Oh, that would be different." The figure came, this time of pure African concept - the enlarged head, seat of the spirit, a frontal static pose, a visage staring into eternity with formally posed arms and clenched fists. It was pre-Columbian in nature, as if a spirit image applied to stone could create similar results in spite of a difference of race, place and time.

Mariga was the father of sculptor Daniel Mariga.

References

* [http://www.zimsculpt.com/artist.php?id=118 Biographical sketch]