内容摘要：after widespread legal challenges, but not before some chose to leave the country pre-emptively, fearing deportation.

after widespread legal challenges, but not before some chose to leave the country pre-emptively, fearing deportation.

“This will boost business. Buyers abroad will now see our work and buy directly from the artists,” said sculptor Wallace Mkanka. His piece, depicting the blinded Black face, was selected as the best of 110 entries and will be one of four winning sculptures on display at Oxford.Zimbabwe, meaning “House of Stone,” derives its identity from the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a 1,800-acre Iron Age city built with precision-cut stones delicately stacked without mortar. It is a UNESCO World heritage site.

The southern African countryto immortalize history. The craft survived close to a century of colonial rule that sought to erase local traditions, religion and art forms.It thrived internationally instead. Thousands of pieces were plundered from Africa. Some later became subjects of repatriation campaigns. Others became prized by tourists and collectors. A permanent collection of 20 Zimbabwean stone sculptures is displayed in a pedestrian tunnel at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, one of the world’s busiest.

At its peak following independence, Zimbabwe’s stone sculpture industry thrived, with local white farmers purchasing pieces for their homes and facilitating international sales.“Customers were everywhere. They would pay up front, and I always had a queue of clients,” recalled Tafadzwa Tandi, a 45-year-old sculptor whose work will feature in the Oxford exhibition.

However, the industry has struggled over the past two decades.

Zimbabwe’s global image suffered after controversial land reforms more than two decades ago displaced over 4,000 white farmers to redistribute land to about 300,000 Black families, according to government figures. Late ruler Robert MugabeCardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, speaks to reporters after Ash Wednesday Mass at Saint Matthew the Apostle Cathedral in Washington, March, 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Cardinal Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, speaks to reporters after Ash Wednesday Mass at Saint Matthew the Apostle Cathedral in Washington, March, 2, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)to lead the Archdiocese of Washington in 2019 and made him the first Black cardinal from the U.S. in 2020. Gregory, 77, retired this year from leading the prominent archdiocese, which he shepherded through significant turmoil. Its two previous leaders,

, were implicated in a new wave of the clergy sex abuse scandal. Gregory has supported social justice and solidarity with immigrants. He drew notice for his relatively inclusive approach for LGBTQ+ Catholics. He toldin January: “I apologize for my own lack of courage to bring healing and hope, and I ask forgiveness.” Gregory was born in Chicago and ordained there in 1973, serving as auxiliary bishop beginning in 1983. After 11 years as bishop in Belleville, Illinois, he was appointed in 2004 by John Paul II to be archbishop of Atlanta.