Peter Majaha Mumbi was born in Bulawayo in Zimbabwe in 1974. He grew up in the high-density suburb of Entumbane where he spent a significant chunk of his childhood and early adulthood. Primary school exposed him to his first taste of art with a very basic course in drawing and painting and he took to it like a bird to water, winning his first award at grade 6. Also, in the area he lived in was a guy who made his living from selling soap stone sculptures to clients in South Africa. He would get piece jobs to clean up the sculptures and so developed a love for the medium.
After high school the art bug bit deeper and he enrolled at the Mzilikazi art center where he was introduced to wooden and ceramic sculpture. He ended up majoring in ceramic sculpture which has been the basic foundation of his art career. 2003 saw him moving to South Africa in search of a wider market for his art and escaping crippling economic meltdown in his country which was very hard on practitioners of the arts.
Peter’s art rings with diverse themes, but over the years it has evolved to be a type of commentary on various aspects of life, in 2016, in a group exhibition at the Museum of African Design his works explored the inner city and racism in South Africa. In his solo exhibition in 2020 at the Thunder Walker in Johannesburg his work explored xenophobia, relationships and the place of women in society. His pieces are mostly rendered in mild steel washers which lends his art an ethereal, haunting quality requiring the viewer to want see any sculpture from all angles, in an attempt to define the sculpture. He also makes use of mild steel sheets in conjunction with washers in some of his works, this creates a contrast in the pieces which lends more depth and feeling to his work. Inspiration comes from the never-ending script that is life, forever begging to be defined, translated and explained. A highlight of his career came around 2009 when he was commissioned to produce a hand sculpture for the 46662 Mandela concert.
