Images of Eyes Gallery I
Artwork by Eino Nangaku
Zimbabwe

"Symbol of Creation" 
Image Copyright © by Eino Nangaku

Nangaku, born in 1936, is Namibian from Ovambo and came to Zimbabwe in 1961 because, he says, "There was some little trouble at home."  When he arrived here his second language was Afrikaans and he could speak neither Shona nor English.  He found a job on a farm where he quickly had to learn two new languages.  This has been the story of Nangaku's life, being self-taught and able to adapt to changing circumstances.

While still a farm worker, he started wood carving.  He knew about pottery from his mother so he explored the bush around the farm looking for clay to make sculptures.  Recently he has turned to drawing and painting using the cheapest and most available materials such as ballpoint pen and earth pigments with egg yolk as a binder.

Nangaku's art begins in his head where, he says, he receives messages directly into his imagination by telepathy from living people or from the spirits. When asked what he does when no messages arrive in his head, he said that never happens "as long as you think about good things.  If you think bad things you can't get help; the messages won't come."

Nangaku's philosophy on life, like his art, is gentle and intimate. In talking about the costume of feathers and coloured cloth he was wearing he said, "This is a small thing, not a big thing.  I saw the Mtshongoyo dancers near Masvingo and I thought I would make this thing; but it is not important.  People think that life is full of big things, like money.  Things are not big.  Everything in life is small and you can lift it with your finger."

The magic of his art lies in the energy from those telepathic messages transmitted to the fingers on Nangaku's large, work-roughened, farm-laboured hands.  His animals and human figures, with their lumpy, rounded bodies, reminiscent of the ancient Venus of Willendorf, come to us from some other place of infinite compassion; and they stare wide-eyed at the inhabitants of this strange cold world full of "bad thoughts" and "big things."

Eino Nangaku has exhibited widely in group exhibitions in Zimbabwe.  He had a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in 1999.

Artist's website and email unknown

For more art work from Zimbabwe, see the paintings by Cora Ruck of Zimbabwe, the next artist

Published Mar 1, 2000
Republished Apr 27, 2008

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