Auxillia tells her story in her own words:

‘The way my father brought me up is the driving force behind my career, and his words have been an inspiration to me as an artist. Both my parents died when i was young, but my father was a very strict man who wanted to see me stand up for myself and he used to say to me: “You must be strong and brave and you must be able to stand for yourself for I will not always be here for you .” It seems as if he knew he would die early. The way he treated my brother and I as the same.

‘I’m not like other women. My boyfriends are my stones. Also, most sculptors tend to focus on themes such as love. I prefer to deal with my culture’s mythology.

‘During my childhood I spent most of my schoool holidays in Chirumanzi where our home is situated. This is a very beautiful area of dense forestation where dells, uncovered by counter ridges, spar into valleys where rivers flow across the land.

‘It is an area filled with wildlife – baboons, rabbits, rock rabbits, kudus, tortoises and frogs. There are some areas which my people in my culture regard as sacred, where you can find usable spiritual powers which they call Mhondoro in my native tongue. Herding animals, my grandmother’s stories of the animal characters (Tsuro and Gudo) and my natural landscape are often my inspiration.’