
Reinata Sadimba (born 1945) is a Mozambican ceramicist who produces work that originates in traditional
Makonde pottery, while incorporating her own techniques and conceptions of femininity and motherhood. She is considered among the most important contemporary sculptors in
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...
.
Biography
Reinata Sadimba was born in Nemu, a village in
Mueda
Mueda is the largest town of the Makonde Plateau in northeastern Mozambique. It is the capital of the Mueda District in Cabo Delgado Province. It is the center of the culture of the Makondes, and the production of their ebony sculptures.
Geog ...
,
Mozambique
Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Mala ...
, in 1945.
She received a traditional
Makonde education, which included making useful objects out of clay.
She learned the art of ceramics from her mother, with the initial aim of providing for her family after her father died when she was very young.
However, she eventually found that working with clay allowed her to "say things that I did not know how to express in any other way."
As a young woman, Sadimba joined
FRELIMO
FRELIMO (; from the Portuguese , ) is a democratic socialist political party in Mozambique. It is the dominant party in Mozambique and has won a majority of the seats in the Assembly of the Republic in every election since the country's first ...
, an armed resistance movement to
Portuguese rule
The Portuguese Empire ( pt, Império Português), also known as the Portuguese Overseas (''Ultramar Português'') or the Portuguese Colonial Empire (''Império Colonial Português''), was composed of the overseas Colonialism, colonies, Factory ...
in Mozambique that began in 1964. After the
Mozambican War of Independence
The Mozambican War of Independence ( pt, Guerra da Independência de Moçambique, 'War of Independence of Mozambique') was an armed conflict between the guerrilla forces of the Mozambique Liberation Front or FRELIMO () and Portugal. The wa ...
, the country gained independent status in 1975.
Sadimba's work is marked by her own personal experiences. Married young and twice divorced, she had eight children, only one of whom survived.
After leaving an abusive marriage in 1975, Sadimba revolutionized her work, beginning to add personalized elements that distinguished her pieces from other Makonde ceramics.
In the 1980s, she collaborated on a rural project with a Swiss couple who had settled close to
Mueda
Mueda is the largest town of the Makonde Plateau in northeastern Mozambique. It is the capital of the Mueda District in Cabo Delgado Province. It is the center of the culture of the Makondes, and the production of their ebony sculptures.
Geog ...
, where she was living at the time. This project brought more visibility to her work. However, as the
Mozambican Civil War
The Mozambican Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Moçambicana) was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992. Like many regional African conflicts during the late twentieth century, the Mozambican Civil War possessed local dynamics but was a ...
raged, she emigrated in 1985 with her only son to
Tanzania
Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...
, where she lived in
Dar es Salaam with her sister Josefina. It was there that she began to exhibit her work in small galleries and artisanal markets.
The Swiss couple's continued support gave her the financial stability to experiment artistically with new techniques and sculpt according to her own aesthetic and imagination. During her time in Tanzania, she further developed her stylistic depiction of the human form, while still reflecting the Makonde
matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...
universe.
In 1992, after the war's end, she returned to Mozambique and settled in
Maputo
Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,08 ...
. There, she received significant support from Augusto Cabral, then the director of the , and she established a studio within the museum. In 1998, her work was featured during a weeklong educational program on traditional ceramics at the museum.
In her work, Sadimba uses
clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay part ...
as well as white
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms wh ...
and
graphite
Graphite () is a crystalline form of the element carbon. It consists of stacked layers of graphene. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable form of carbon under standard conditions. Synthetic and natural graphite are consumed on la ...
, which gives her pieces their characteristic green color. She creates jugs, pots, and anthropomorphic forms, which often display scarifications or cultural marks typical of the Makonde people.
Sadimba herself has a tattooed face, in keeping with Makonde tradition.
Her ceramics contain layers of meaning and make reference to stories and legends of her home province, often depicting femininity, motherhood, or childbirth.
She is also known for producing pieces incredibly quickly.
Sadimba's work has been exhibited both in Mozambique and abroad, including in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
Switzerland,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal:
:* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...
, and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
.
In 2022, she was named a Commander of the
Order of Prince Henry
The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of t ...
by the president of Portugal.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sadimba, Reinata
1945 births
Living people
Mozambican women artists
Mozambican women sculptors
Makonde people
Commanders of the Order of Prince Henry