It is very popular in the United States(Recognised Art Form) and Continental Europe, but it is less well known in the UK. 

General awareness of the art form in the UK was increased substantially by a high profile exhibition in 2000 at Kew Gardens in London 

Collectors include Prince Charles, who opened the first major exhibition in the UK at the Barbican centre in the 1980s, and Michael Jackson.

During its early years of growth, the nascent "Shona sculpture movement" was described as an Art Renaissance, an Art Phenomenon and a Miracle. 

Critics and collectors could not understand how an art genre had developed with such vigour, spontaneity and originality in an area of Africa which had none of the great sculptural heritage of West Africa and had previously been described in terms of the visual arts as artistically barren

There is a new generation of amazingly talented artists working in Zimbabwe today.

The majority of stones used in Zimbabwean sculpture are locally sourced and belong to the geological family Serpentine. 

They are sedimentary, having originally been laid down on a sandy seafloor, and metamorphic, since subsequent exposure to intense heat and pressure over hundreds of millions of years has transformed them into hard stone. 

The process of creating a sculpture from hard Serpentine stone requires not only technical skill but also the artistic talent to create genuine and original art. 

The sculptors are inspired by the form, colour and texture of the raw stone.