Why worry?
Dispelling the agony of unsettled thoughts.
By Nyadzombe Nyampenza
To worry is a process ungoverned by reason. It does not change outcomes. Sculptor Albert Mamvura excises the feeling like a cyst, and brings it into the light.
Mamvura’s work, a curving from brown serpentine stone is titled Worried Man. It is an abstract twisted and contorted figure. From one side it may look like a distorted symbol for infinity. Light passes through gaps in the stone, casting shadows. The surfaces are polished smooth and the edges are pared sharp. It bears no resemblance to any features of a man.
Worry is a feeling that clouds the eye, drains happiness, disturbs peace, and withers joy. Sustained by its own irrationality, worry reduces the man into a stain. Common advice says, “Don’t worry.’’ The best counsel might be to, ‘’Let go.’’
Albert makes the intangible solid. With magical flair he causes the invisible to appear. By turning worry into an object for reflection, the artist brings perspective over a gloomy affair.
