Adam Madebe - sculptor

Programme Outline

Sculptor Adam Madebe is one of a growing group of artists from Zimbabwe with an international reputation. Having made a small-scale model of the final sculpture we see him create life-size figures in clay of an African family, the father carrying wood, mother feeding her baby at the breast and an older child reading. The footage shows Adam completing the details of one of the heads and attaching it to the torso. The next stage of the process involves Adam hammering out sections of sheet metal to fit round each section of the figures. As the sections are welded around a leg, for example, the final piece is omitted to allow Adam to remove the clay. Then the final piece is welded into place and the metal leg becomes self-supporting. As the sculpture takes shape we see the clay figures becoming 'metal' and the tiny details of hair, ears, eyes bringing the sculpture to life.

 


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