Kashimiri Matayo
Biography

Kashimiri Matayo was born around 1935 in Miula village on Mozambique's Mueda Plateau, the younger brother of the sculptor Joseph Francis. He learned woodcarving from his father, from his brother, and from a family relative, Nyekenyia Nangundu, one of the pioneering Makonde carvers who first produced ebony sculpture for commercial sale.

In 1955 he crossed into Tanzania, joining Norman Kirk's carver colony in Mtwara before following his brother to Dar es Salaam and later settling near Kibaha. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who developed the style within Mohamed Peera's yard, Matayo arrived independently at the shetani genre during the 1960s, carving spirit figures drawn from stories told to him by his father and grandfather; from around 1969 his work began incorporating male anatomical elements into the shetani form.

His carvings were exhibited and published widely, including in Goethe-Institut-sponsored shows in Dar es Salaam between 1968 and 1971 and in a major exhibition of modern Makonde art in Denmark in 1999. He died around 2019; his son, Ambros Kashimiri, continues the family's carving tradition.

source: Makonde Modern research report (eaman.org); tanzanian-art.de

[read more about the Modern Makonde Sculpture Movement here]