Edson Seda

Edson Seda was born on the 5th of October 1977 in Kazindira village, Magwe province in Mozambique as a member of the Chikunda tribe

In 1984, his father decided to go to Zimbabwe, where he had previously worked in order to escape the liberation struggles in Mozambique. After arriving in Zimbabwe, he started his primary education and completed the first two years of secondary education. Already as a child, Edson took interest in art, being involved in creative and entertainment activities at school and creating human heads out of mud in his spare time which he used to expose at the roadside. During weekends and holidays he used to visit Tengenenge Art Community where his uncle Martin Kafara was working as sculptor. However it was only after he finished his ordinary level in 1992 when he joined his uncle in stone sculpting.

His first attempt on a stone was the family of elephants. He derived this creation from the elephants that he used to see in his home area along the great Zambezi valley. In 1993, he introduced his specialty, the leaf-head. As according to him, it is a leaf like a head or a head like a leaf.

“If one is a tobacco farmer, that one would be having tobacco leaves bearing in his mind. So in my creation, the tobacco farmer turned his head into a leaf-head. And also that the fact that the leaf as a plant, is very unique as far as human life is concerned.”

Later in the early 2000 he introduced another motive which he is known for: The moving ducks. In 2002 Edson was amongst the top ten selling artists at Tengenenge art community and qualified to compete for the National Art Merit Award competition that was held in Avondale, Harare. In 2005 he won a cash price at an exhibition at the Tengenenge art gallery, sponsored by the Korean Embassy. His sculptures have been exhibited in countries like Netherlands, German, America and Spain.

Edson is married to Angela. The two are blessed with two sons however, Edson is a father of four children of which two of them belongs to his former wife.