Charles Kowo
BORN:
Born in 1980 in Mutoko which is in north-eastern Zimbabwe, a mountainous region where purple lepidolite and serpentine stone known as leopard rock are found.
When his father died in 1992, his mother moved back to her parents in Guruve in northern Zimbabwe, taking the eight children with her.
The area around Guruve has some very interesting geology, and there are a number of stone sculptors working there. Charles met Obert Marime, an experienced sculptor who created abstract pieces. Charles was very impressed by his work and his interest in this art form grew. Obert very kindly agreed to take him under his wing and teach him, so from 2002-2005 Charles stayed with Obert and worked as his assistant and learned the basic techniques of sculpting.
In 2005, with Obert’s encouragement, Charles started to work on his own sculptures he continued to stay with Obert until 2012 when Charles moved to Harare, which bought more customers coming through on their way to meet various sculptors and to visit the local serpentine mines where the raw materials were fairly cheap and easily to obtain. Charles became an established artist in his own right.
