Born in Masvingo Province, 1972

The female torso, headless and somehow ancient has become a feature of the stone sculpture of Zimbabwe. But in the stones of Zimbabwe the torso has the ample form of the African woman, thighs as big as horse's flanks, sturdy waists and strong shoulders. The origins of the torso in Zimbabwean stone have yet to be discovered. However, the torsos of Celestino are more reminiscent of the female nude in painting. They are almost sketches in stone of how the woman?s body might appear. These are open and frank studies of women rather than sculptures of the female ideal. Sometimes there are flaws in the proportions of the sculpture; sometimes there is a flabby under arm, a sign of cellulite on the thigh. But always there is a sense of both the classical torso and a more intimate study of the woman?s body. Celestino came to sculpture through working with the late Boira Mteki at Chapungu Sculpture Park, Zimbabwe. Finishing and polishing Mteki?s sculptures he began to look more closely at the stones, and were able to define a female form in the shapes of some. This he elaborated upon and turned to sculpture. He feels no shame in depicted the naked form of a woman, no reason to hide his work away. He feels that throughout the history of sculpture the female form has dominated, changing in proportion according to the social perceptions of female beauty at the time. What he tries to do in his sculptures is to define for himself how he feels about women in terms of how their forms have been socially perceived in Africa ? how traditionally amplitude in a woman?s body has suited the tasks of a woman, for example working in the fields, carrying buckets far to the well, walking miles to the clinic ?how today the woman follows the western perception of her bodily ideal ?slender, long limbed and purposeful in keeping herself fit.

His torsos are highly polished so that there is a feel of the smooth skin of the woman, her satin thighs, her smooth and elegant back, her neck without creases, and her skin without blemish. Polished stone leads to beautiful women. And seeing his torsos one can imagine the face of the woman, oval, classical in its beauty, symmetrical of feature. One can imagine the lower legs of the women, tapering to a slender ankle, placed above a small and perfectly proportioned foot.  Celestino is a sculptor of finesse and style, a sculptor who cares that his subject should be rendered perfectly, without flaw. His work has caused considerable attention internationally, and he is looked upon a more than competent figurative sculptor with the tradition from which he comes.