VISUAL artist Chemedu Jemali’s passion for upholding cultural values and nurturing his Shona and Ndebele traditionally-oriented creative work has earned him numerous tours to Germany and Netherlands, where he has conducted successful exhibitions and workshops Jemali defies odds by provoking people to tell their own stories and compile their own narratives through epic figurines and abstract creations on historic subjects He identified Mhondoro district in Zimbabwe as an area with several undocumented historical narratives and, as such, he is in what others may refer to as a toxic exercise as he tries to unravel untold truths about ethnic and racial origins identified with that area Jemali commenced his dream at the backyard of his lodgings and it was not easy for him to be accepted by the family as everyone sought to make quick buck and he had to compete with neighbours
However, Jemali’s captivating abstracts in smooth finish white marble, fruit serpentine, opal, verdite, leopard rock and cobalt back then in the 1990s soon became the talk of Chitungwiza and charmed galleries and the hearts of cross-border traders and eventually he became a reputable visual art mentor and workshop facilitator “Mixed Spirit is a mixed art piece done on white marble and spring stones The top part in marble is rotatable and each angle it takes in unison with its bottom spring stone which is almost a similar statuette provides a good narrator a chance to compose stories Mixed Spirit also makes people see the genuineness of their culture
“The story of Chimurenga has been badly distorted and this piece of work speaks volumes about my passion for freedom There is no objective history, but the truth has to be known,” Jemali told NewsDay Life & Style Shona and Ndebele people have known high levels of hospitality and friendship, and Jemali tries to depict this in his creations He also tries to unravel untold past events that today appear to be myths
For instance, in his The Chiefs Family and Chiefs Daughters installations, he delves into the Sinyoro clan, whose origin is intriguing as their totem “The Chiefs Family and Chiefs Daughters monuments, respectively, are carvings that disentangle what has been the best kept secrets about the Sinyoros in Mhondoro, where a chief was betrayed by Portuguese colonial settlers who had asked for refuge at his homestead “A few days before they left for Mozambique, one of their teammates fell ill and failed to recover in time for departure As a matter of fact, the Portuguese entourage left their colleague under the hospitable care of the chief and his daughters
“The recovery from illness of the man who had been left behind was full of surprises and shocks as after a few months, three of the chief’s daughters confessed they had conceived “This accounts for the coloured Sinyoros we all see today,” he narrated Sinyoro is the bastardisation of the Portuguese word Senhor, meaning sir or mister Source: The Standard Zimbabwe
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Source: Thestandard
