“His work has a totemic quality that seems to give his sculptures a volume and presence that is larger than the actual size. The combination of the patterned surfaces of unpolished hard spring stone with the solid black of the polished faces, hands and feet provide the works with a charming visual complexity. The absence of any internal negative space in each piece respects the integrity of the original chunk of raw stone.”


Boet was the winner of the sculpture category of the prestigious National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA) in 2012 and 2010, which are awarded by Zimbabwe’s National Arts Council and are like the Oscars for Zimbabwe. This was well-deserved, national recognition from Zimbabwe’s arts elite for one of the brightest stars in a new generation of talent.

Boet Nyariri was born in 1977 in Mhondoro, Zimbabwe. When Boet was at secondary school, he went to live with his grandfather and it was then that he met sculptor Tinashe Makaza and began sculpting with him. Stone sculpture became a part of him and this passion has never left him. Boet has worked with and been inspired by some of the biggest names of the younger generation of Zimbabwean artists, including Dominic Benhura, Ignatius Zhuwakiyi and Garison Machinjili. His work is also shown by galleries across the world, including USA, Netherlands and South Korea.