TMCnet News
Safety Training a Must for Sculptors [opinion](AllAfrica Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) "Art can be hazardous to health", especially when there are no guides or manuals to instruct artists, art students and curators on the liabilities and dangers one might encounter whilst creating, exhibiting or transporting art. The history of world art is filled with records, anecdotes, letters and Press reports about incidents and fatal accidents that although avoidable, in retrospect, are an integral part of the world of art. We should learn from history. Post-graduate scholars of medical sociology of art would have heard of Michelangelo Buonarroti's (1415-1564) letters from Carrara. In the 15th century, one of the world's greatest stone sculptors, Michelangelo opened the marble quarries at Pietrasanta (Holy Stone) mines near the towns of Luca and Pisa in Massa, Carrara, Italy. There was a fatal accident. His cousin, in his employment was crushed by a block of marble, whilst trying to haul the stone out of the mine, using a rudimentary version of a mine rail cart. This tragedy was one of the "first recorded" stone sculpting accidents in a long list of art casualties that have been largely omitted in the study of the history of art. Another example - in the mid-19th century, during the Victorian times, Charles Thomas Thomas (1822-1867), a famous English-Canadian decorative stone carver, responsible for some of the masonary work on the Buckingham Palace in the 1840s, The Belgravia Square and the Osborne Royal Houses for Queen Victoria, died on Christmas Day 1867, whilst supervising the hoisting of rocks for carving and building in Quiney Illinois, USA - the rocks had fallen on him. Yes, even the best artists of their times have been victims of the hazards of their craft. It is a shame that many centuries later, our Zimbabwean art schools and universities do not give lectures on "Art Safety Training". Zimbabwe has an inimical inventory of avoidable deaths of artists and art enthusiasts attributed to the making and the unprofessional displaying of public art. In the same vein, many artists have died due to the lack of knowledge of the risks and potential hazards of the various art mediums, raw materials and the inappropriately displayed and transported contemporary art works. The following is a disquieting inventory of some of the avoidable accidents and mishaps related to the visual arts practice in Zimbabwe. Perhaps we might learn from history: The "Father" of Zimbabwean stone sculpture, Joram Mariga (1927-2000), lost one of his finger digits whilst working on a monumental sculpture for the famous Yorkshire Sculpture Park exhibition of Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture. More tragically, a Tengenenge sculptor - the late Lemon Moses - had a 2 1/4- metre serpentine stone block, left standing upright, quash him to death. The work of art he was to sculpt was destined for an exhibition of Tengenenge sculpture in Holland. Needless to say, he never made it. Trymore Munyeza Kapeta (1970-1999), a Chiweshe-based artist, was crushed to death together with his four-year-old child, whilst trying to draw a seven-tonne raw opaline stone from a mountain shaft by tractor in rainy weather, in October 1999. The towing rope snapped. The stone rolled back. The death of father and daughter was instant. His Belgian Xmas 1999, exhibition (in Brussels) was cancelled. Why have so many Zimbabwean artists and art assistants put their lives at risk whilst creating, exhibiting or transporting art? The answers are simple. Ignorance and carelessness! Unfortunately, some artists have since died, others are permanently maimed. Art safety training is mandatory in Zimbabwe. Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA of Post Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a practicing artist, critic, designer, and a corporate image consultant Copyright The Herald. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). |