Helen Lieros

Helen Lieros (3 August 1940 – 1 July 2021) was a Zimbabwean visual artist. She was born in Gweru, Zimbabwe to Greek parents. She studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and the Centre Contemporaine de la Gravure in Geneva, Switzerland. She also spent time at the Istituto statale d'arte di Firenzein Florence, Italy. Quotes There were two or three years when my work was based on the two sisters. It was very much against the doctors, a hatred, a bitterness that [my sister’s] life couldn’t be saved. She, for me, was the most precious thing in my life. The two of us were very close. [My work] became very expressionistic, although the media somehow, oil on paper, was quite soft, but the work was violent Helen Lieros: A Practice Underpinned by Persistence and Perseverance We achieve much by this isolation because outside influences, movements, and trends do not affect us so much and yet we have to see them to balance where we are. This stimulus helps us to go forward on our own path and challenges us to dare. Helen Lieros: A Practice Underpinned by Persistence and Perseverance Ah, I’m a painter. I mean I’ve always tried other mediums. I’ve loved etching. I’ve worked with relief. I love paper. I’ve been recycling, making paper.” Helen Lieros: A Practice Underpinned by Persistence and Perseverance Quotes said about Helen Lieros With an incredible knack for identifying and nurturing artistic talent, Helen regularly imparted her invaluable visual arts skills to many artists, assisting them to blossom into top-notch creatives. With the death of Helen, Zimbabwe has lost an exceptionally talented practitioner and arts administrator who contributed to the growth and development of the visual arts by putting the sector on the world’s artistic map. May her soul Rest In Peace. Nicholas Moyo, Director, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, as captured in Visual Arts Icon Helen Lieros Dies At 81 By Paidashe Mandivengerei, New Zimbabwe, 14th July 2021 Category:1940 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Women artists Category:Women born in the 1940s “Let’s work on newspaper, with mud.” “I was brought up in the British colonial type of painting, which I deplored. I had to do the little butterflies, the little flowers, and the little this and the little that in watercolors.” "As I began to re-identify myself with the African environment, so my painting became broader and my color stronger, symbolic of the felt experience,” “fight between who and what I am.”