Merchers Chiawa

Merchers Chiwawa was born in 1974 and attended preschool in Guruve, he then went to kadoma for his primary schooling. He did not receive any formal art training, only the usual arts and crafts which he did with the other children in his class. Merchers began to take art seriously when he was still in grade seven, his father, a First Generation artist was always giving him small stones to work with.

It was in Form II, during his second year of high school, that he began to work on larger pieces and his major milestone was reached when he sculpted a fish, which he called ‘First Piece’ and found a home in the National Gallery. However, the piece did not go on display because Mr. Murray who encouraged the young Merchers to continue on with his endeavors, immediately purchased it.

Merchers then pursued his dream and joined Tengenenge Galleries where so many gifted artists had gone before him. He took three pieces with him and upon admission he was given a stand in 1991 and then completed his education. Merchers was at Tengenenge until 2004 where he was both an artist and a sales manager. Whilst there he worked on a variety of pieces and experimented with different lengths and sizes. Some of his work included a piece titled ‘The Communication of Three People.’ This piece has a uniqueness it style and feel. The beauty of its _expression is unquestionable. His use of movement is fluid and challenges the eye to drink in and capture the plethora of themes and meanings that are relayed in this one piece. Lines and curves accent the differently shaped heads. The back of the piece has a tobacco leaf, which Merchers says signifies the beginning of Tengenenge, which is situated on an old tobacco farm.

His ability to create various pieces with universal meaning have made him popular amongst art collectors. Mystery In Stone is particularly pleased with their promotion of his work because of his enthusiasm and drive for art. Having his art showcased in America by Mystery In Stone is a milestone for Merchers whose works often go to Europe and Scandinavia respectively.

Communication: a Theme Within a Theme - The theme of communication is one that Merchers wants to continue to develop. His other major themes include the family and are illustrated in such pieces as ‘The Rising Family’ and the ‘Virgin and Child’. Some of the pieces when placed next to each other form a distorted mirror.
He experiments with different stones and movements to evoke a wholly different _expression. Merchers also enjoys working on small pieces such as the ‘Musician’, this is an oval shaped head with lines running downwards across on the left, indicating the type of instrument being played, the accordion. For Merchers the trademark is clearly imprinted on the facial features of the form in question. The long nose is rather rectangular and the lips ever so slight with the eyes showing closed or partly closed lids. He also enjoys working on the fingers and drawing attention to their elongated form, symbolic of the flow of information or dialogue within his expressions.

The Creative Instinct - In his work he has a preference for springstone but he especially loves black and green opal as well as brown serpentine. His pieces are housed in various places including Germany (for instance the popular small piece called ‘Rasta Man’), Chicago and London.

Merchers says he talks with the raw stones he then transforms into unique works of art. Once he has collected a raw stone he then sits it on what appears to be the base, stands three meters away and hears what the stone actually is. Each stone is different and speaks in a different way. He follows the shape of the stone, which is a process he likens to peeling a banana so that you can eat what is inside, in this case, so that we can all ‘see’ what is inside the stone.

It is then up to Merchers to turn the texture of the stone into his direction by employing his artistic feel and if the stone refuses to yield to his idea he simply looks again to its size and shape and creates something which fills its volume but still within the inspiration of the initial process of dialogue with the stones.
Merchers enjoys all forms of _expression and shares ideas with other artists in workshops he teaches and participates in, in the various Western countries he has visited. Nevertheless, he is adamant that he has a preferred style that is original and distinctive which he nurtured at Tengenenge long before he was exposed to Western art forms.

Hearing from the Past, Creating New Meanings – As an artist, Merchers believes that there is a lot that can be learnt from the First Generation artists. He enjoys themes that verge of the good coexisting with the bad and he unfolds these in pieces such as ‘The Communication of Three People’. There are no longer simply three people in communication. There is a juxtaposition illustrated in the piece where the spherical head signifies communication (good). The hollow within the piece that separates the spherical head from the other two is in fact bad magic. Above this is the good magic and the center illustrates the ‘Head Magician’ of the ‘Headman’. The latter Headman places some bad herbal medicine in the communal well. Everyone in the village drinks this water including his own family and they become very ill. He then administers the appropriate herbs, muti, to his family only in order to counter the first concoction. Then everyone who has drunk of the well comes from miles to receive good muti from the Headman and he demands that they all reward him with a chicken. The amusing end of the story is that the Headman is never found out but he does become chicken rich! This piece is intended to be a reconciliatory piece.

Merchers is excited about having his pieces exhibited in America because he has had a lot of exposure in Holland and Germany, he has been going to these countries since 1998 and is there three months at a time. Merchers enjoys creating art, in his own words he says, “I don’t dream; I don’t draw but I create.”

1. This piece is written by Cleopatra Magwaro for Mystery In Stone and is based on an interview with the Artist.