Bevin Chikodzi

Bevin Chikodzi was born in 1966 in Murewa, Zimbabwe, the oldest of seven children. He attended school in Chitungwiza and then learned stone carving from Farai Mdokwani in 1987. He is now a full-time Shona sculptor, using the serpentine stone that is native to his country.

Although Chikodzi was apprenticed to another artist, most Shona sculptors are self-taught. They do not make preliminary drawings for their work but carve directly into the stone with hand tools. The sculptures are not used in rituals or ceremonies and are purely decorative. Mother and child, family embrace, lovers, brotherhood, children, harmony, metamorphosis, and spirits are all common themes for the stone carvers of Zimbabwe with the ancestral spirits taking on some human and animal characteristics.

Young Eagle, a sculpture by Chikodzi in the National Museum of Wildlife Art collection, represents an animal revered for its strength, elegance, and its close relationship to the mythical spirit world. In Shona mythology, the eagle is believed to be a messenger of God and spirits. The highly stylized and abstract form along with the smoothly polished surface is representative of much Shona sculpture.