BIO

  Zulu Heru is a California-based sculptor whose work reimagines the cultural remnants of the African diaspora. Shaped by his time at Howard University, Zulu has emerged as a visionary artist redefining how African art is seen within the realm of fine art.

 Attuned to what society discards and forgets, he transforms salvaged materials into sculptural vessels alive with ancestral presence. Through this process, Zulu embodies the long-standing tradition within Black culture of turning scarcity into abundance; an alchemy of transformation that speaks to resilience and a spirit of renewal.

 His work challenges the colonial framing of African art as "primitive," reclaiming objects such as the African Mask as forms of high art that are spiritual, political, and sublime in both craftsmanship and intent.

 Zulu's practice is rooted in mentorship and lineage. Guided by his godfather and mentor, Uzikee Nelson, a celebrated figure of the Black artistic renaissance, he honors a legacy of creative liberation. Nelson's path carved space for Black artists to move with purpose and power; Zulu carries that torch forward, building upon this foundation with reverence and innovation.

 A former commissioned officer in the U.S. Army, Zulu's story is forged in metal and discipline. With over a decade of experience in metal fabrication, he brings a deep technical fluency to his art. As an operating engineer and professional art handler, he has helped install over 100 monumental works across the country, from Auguste Rodin and Keith Haring to Jaume Plensa, KAWS, and Sanford Biggers. These encounters with masterworks have sharpened his sense of scale, form, and legacy.

 Zulu's sculptures exist as both monuments and talismans, collapsing time and creating dialogue between ancestors and future generations. Each work breathes life into forgotten materials, reminding us that the discarded still carries spirit, and that creation itself can be a form of awakening.

Artist Statement:

My work reimagines the cultural remnants of the African diaspora and reclaims what history has scattered. I am drawn to the tension between what is preserved and what is stolen, the sacred African artifacts now displaced in Western museums, stripped of their spirit and reduced to aesthetic objects. Through sculpture, I return them to their rightful power as living, enchanted vessels of memory, ancestry, and resistance.
 
Working primarily with salvaged metal and discarded materials, I channel the same alchemy that has long existed in Black culture, the ability to transform scarcity into abundance. These materials, once forgotten, become monuments of renewal. They hold the weight of labor, echoing how the forced work of enslaved Africans became the backbone of the American industrial complex. In reshaping this story, I honor that lineage of creation through struggle and resilience.
 
Every piece I make is an invocation, a dialogue between ancestors and descendants, between the spiritual and the industrial. I do not see African art as primitive or past tense; I see it as a living technology of connection. The mask, the relic, the fragments. These are not static symbols but charged portals to the unseen. My sculptures seek to awaken that energy and remind us that the discarded still carries spirit, and that creation itself is a form of liberation.