Chiono Changu
$900
My vision
A crowd presses in, and one figure turns his back to us. Chiono Changu is about holding on to a private vision while everyone around you looks elsewhere.
Fine Art · Harare, Zimbabwe
Every dream
has a journey.
Portraits of hoping, striving and working, and of the moment you finally get to enjoy the fruit.
Artist statement
My work lives inside the journey of a dream: the hoping, the fighting, the working, and finally, the enjoying.
I paint people at every stage of that journey. A child carrying a red balloon as if it might float away. A boxer resting between rounds. A woman bent over patient, repetitive work. A grandmother tasting ice cream with no one to answer to. Some are still reaching; others have arrived.
I place them against wide, open fields of colour, the room a dream needs to grow. Many titles are in Shona, because the language of striving is personal. I build each piece the way a dream is built: layer by layer, with patience, until a quiet idea stands in front of you, real.
The collection · 20 works
The journey, in three parts
I
Hoping
Where every dream begins: a vision held quietly, a first step taken, a balloon carried carefully. These works sit in the moment before anything is certain.
Tariro
$650
Hope
A lone figure climbs a ladder lashed to a hand cart, reaching upward against a field of red. Hope, as something you build and push.
Chishuwo
$350
Work in progress
Wish
A small girl walks toward us holding a red balloon. In a wide field of pale blue it is the only colour, a dream carried carefully, close to hand.
Nokutenda
$400
With gratitude
A small rider in an oversized helmet pedals forward on a red bicycle. The courage of first attempts.
Musikana Mufaro
$60
Joyful girl
A girl mid-laugh, her hair twisted upward as if it is reaching too. Joy before anyone has told her what is impossible.
II
Striving
The long middle: the fighting and the working. Hands busy, faces weathered, people leaning on each other. The part of the journey no one sees.
Champion
$400
A boxer rests between rounds, gloves heavy on his knees. The title names what he is fighting for, not yet what he holds.
Tswanda reTsungiriro
$500
Work in progress
A woman bent over her craft, absorbed in patient, repetitive work, the quiet hours where most dreams are really built.
Nzira
$350
Work in progress
The path
A father and daughter walk hand in hand; she looks up at him. Some of the journey is walked for someone else, and with them.
Tiri Pamwe
$60
We are together
Three faces emerge from deep charcoal shadow, close enough to lean on each other. Nobody gets there alone.
Gogo Wisdom
$150
A grandmother in white before a gold and orange halo. Wisdom as what remains after the fight, hard-won and luminous.
Ambuya
$60
Grandmother
A grandmother in a headwrap, every line of her face earned. A study of a life of work.
aSekuru
$60
Grandfather
A grandfather’s face carved in light and shadow: the weathered map of someone who kept going.
III
The Fruits
Arrival. Floating, laughing, tasting the ice cream. These are portraits of people enjoying what they worked for, because the fruit is the point.
Mapudzi Angu
$2,100
Field of dreams
An astronaut sits in a field of ripe pumpkins. The far-off dream and the harvest of home, held in the same frame.
Runyararo
$350
Work in progress
Calm
Arms folded, gaze lifted, a woman in yellow polka dots sits against saturated blue: composed, unhurried, fully arrived.
Wherever I Go
$1,000
A figure in a spacesuit drifts across open water on an inflatable. Ambition and ease, in the same suit.
Keya Keya
$850
No care in the world
Sunglasses on, drink in hand, nowhere to be. The moment you finally let yourself enjoy it.
Rugare
$750
Peace
An elder sits at ease before a burning orange sun. The rest that comes after the work is done.
Nyasha
$300
Work in progress
Grace
A grandmother in white floats on a pink ring, glass raised. Grace, received and enjoyed.
Gelato Sawhira
$300
Work in progress
Two friends on a bench, ice creams in hand, matching shades. Sweetness, shared.
Gogo Gutsikana
$400
A grandmother in dungarees takes a slow bite of ice cream. It is never too late to taste it.
Works marked Work in progress are between 60% and 90% complete. Final photographs will follow, and they can be reserved now. All prices in US dollars.
Process
In the studio
Every piece is built by hand in Harare, layer by layer: oil, acrylic and pastel, worked over weeks.
About the artist
Costa Juta
Costa Juta is a portrait artist based in Harare, Zimbabwe, working in oil, acrylic, charcoal, digital media and photography, often blending them in a single piece. His work follows the journey of a dream: the hope that starts it, the work and struggle that carry it, and the joy of finally living in it.
For Costa, art is both a refuge and a challenge. Each piece begins as a quiet idea and is shaped layer by layer, with focus, patience and problem-solving, until the finished work begins to speak back.
Oil & acrylic
Large-scale canvases
Charcoal
Portrait studies on paper
Digital
Drawing & photography
Commissions
Your story, painted.
A personal portrait of someone you love, or a moment you worked hard for. Tell me about it, and we'll decide together on size, medium and timeline.
Start a commission
