According to David Chidumo, the curator of the new Chapungu exhibit of the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, the name Zimbabwe means "House of Stone." It is fitting then that Harare, Zimbabwe, is home to the Chapungu Sculpture Park, an open-air preserve where artists can go to have the space and atmosphere necessary to create their larger-than-life stone sculptures.
The sculpture park, named for the Chapungu bird which in Shona culture is believed to ward off evil, has produced numerous famous artists, many of whom have had no formal training in the art of sculpture, said the curator. "These artists have never gone to school for art," Chidumo said. "Their art is coming out of their souls. They already had the talent. They just had to learn how to develop it."