NEW SCULPTURE WELCOMED AT HARARE’S BISHOPSLEA PREPARATORY SCHOOL

Bishopslea Preparatory School has welcomed a new sculpture to the heart of its campus, in a piece that brings together two things the school says define it: art and education.

The work, titled Words of Wisdom, was commissioned and donated by Chris Msipa, a long-standing parent of the school, and created by Dominic Benhura, one of Zimbabwe’s most internationally recognised sculptors. Benhura, born in Murewa in 1968, began sculpting as a child under the guidance of his cousin, the sculptor Tapfuma Gutsa, and has since built a career spanning solo exhibitions across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. He is known for stone sculptures, often of mother-and-child figures, left without facial features so that viewers everywhere can find their own meaning in them. The placement of his work at Bishopslea carries an added layer of connection, as Benhura’s own daughters attended the school.

Words of Wisdom depicts a maternal figure holding a child, a subject central to much of Benhura’s output. At Bishopslea, the school has framed the piece as a tribute to the women who shape a child’s early years, whether as teachers, mentors, parents, or simply as examples for younger generations to follow. That idea sits close to the school’s own stated purpose, in a community built around the transfer of knowledge and encouragement from one generation to the next.

By placing a major artwork at the centre of its campus rather than in a gallery or hallway, Bishopslea is making a point about where art belongs in a school setting. Sculpture, in this case, is not treated as decoration set apart from daily life, but as something students walk past on their way to lessons, a visible reminder of the values the school hopes to instil. The pairing of Benhura’s work with a primary school environment also reflects a broader tradition in Zimbabwe, where stone sculpture has long moved between galleries, public spaces, and everyday settings rather than staying confined to formal art institutions.

For Bishopslea, the sculpture now stands as a fixed part of the campus experience, one the school hopes will stay with pupils well beyond their years there. In linking a nationally significant artist’s work with the everyday rhythm of school life, Words of Wisdom offers a quiet argument that art and education are not separate pursuits, but part of the same process of shaping who a child becomes.

Image source: Bishopslea Preparatory School Facebook