Colleen Madamombe

Colleen Madamombe was born in 1964 in Salisbury, Rhodesia (which became Harare, Zimbabwe, after independence in 1980) and attended school in Kutama from 1979 to 1984. From 1985 to 1986, she earned a diploma in fine arts at the BAT Workshop School of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

In 1986, she married the Zimbabwean sculptor Fabian Madamombe, with whom she later had seven children. At first, she specialized in drawing and painting, but in 1987 she began helping her husband with his sculpture work at Chapungu Sculpture Park. She formed a close friendship with the sculptor Agnes Nyanhongo. During the three years she worked full-time at Chapungu, she quickly developed her own style.

Many of Colleen Madamombe’s works have been exhibited and sold outside Zimbabwe, for example in traveling exhibitions featuring works by Chapungu artists at botanical gardens in the United Kingdom and the United States. She has received the “Best Female Artist of Zimbabwe” award three times.

Colleen Madamombe died on May 31, 2009. Her grave is located near her rural hometown of Zvimba. In 2010, the National Gallery of Zimbabwe held an exhibition about her life and work.