FIRST FOREIGNER TO VISIT MAUKU“S STUDIO

You are the first Mzungu (White man) ever to visit my studio, Lukas Mauku told me when we climb a small path to his house. Nothing to wonder considering the long time one has to spend on journey  to the undiscovered land just west of Dar es Salaam. It took one and half hour by taxi and another half hour by foot. But when I heard he was carving for more than 25 years and his work was celebrated by collectors all over the world I was at least surprised.

 

2 hours from main Dar es Salaam road has this carver sculpted undisturbed for 25 years until AFRUM arrived 

 

I was shown his place by his student George Lugwani (see the BBC document about him). We had minor defects on car before we got a real puncture, then the taxi just broke completely so we had to reach main road by foot. Nice adventure 30 km out of Dar es Salaam…. As Nafasi Mpagua, Peter Kalulu and others, Lukas Mauku was declared to be dead many times by fortune seekers. But the good news is, that Mauku is living not far from Dar es Salaam and if you ever tried to find him, try again.

 

Lukas Mauku in taxi going to his forgotten home


Author: Daniel Augusta
Date: 19.06.2008