Travel Guide Tengenenge

Tengenenge is probably the only place in the Northern Interior that receives a steady stream of travelers each year. They may be artists or gallery owners - or simply tourists interested in African sculpture and the Shona movement in particular. Tengenenge is indeed the largest community of artists in the country. It brings together many artists from all over the continent, whose works are exhibited in spacious gardens. On average, a hundred artists work permanently at the farm, where they have small studios. Visitors have the opportunity to admire the sculptors at work and to discuss with them and place orders! Tengenenge is also a commercial site, much to the chagrin of some Shona sculpture specialists, who suspect that the artists are catering to the wishes of tourists for profit, instead of following their own creative instincts. The farm remains a good training ground, however, because it brings together artists from Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Malawi, etc., and thus fosters a melting pot of cultures and styles. Moreover, the new generation of sculptors seems very promising. They are developing a new, more modern style and use different types of stones, more or less noble or precious.A little history. Tom Blomefield was the founder and director of Tengenenge until 2007, when he was replaced by Dominic Benhura, an internationally renowned carver. Blomefield came to Zimbabwe in 1946 to become a tobacco farmer and chrome miner. He founded the Tengenenge Art Community in 1966 as a way to earn a living, as tobacco and chrome were now the target of sanctions due to the War of Independence. Tengenenge means "the beginning of the beginning" and has managed to survive and thrive. The artists' work was featured in many international exhibitions and began to be recognized for its vitality and originality. At independence in 1980, demand for sculptures in Tengenenge exploded, but government policies since 2000 have not encouraged tourism to Zimbabwe and with the decline in international visitors, sculpture sales have suffered.