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Tafadzwa Zimoyo Senior Arts Reporter
Veteran visual artist Helen Lieros died yesterday following a short illness.

She was 80.

Helen was a visual artist par excellence, with several artworks on the permanent collection at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

Her death is particularly sad for the sector coming so soon after her recognition by the Government as one of the Living Legends of the Cultural and Creative Industries in Zimbabwe.

The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe director Nicholas Moyo described the death as a tragedy.

“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,” he said.

Born in 1940 in Gweru, Helen, together with her husband Dereck Huggins, they duo established Gallery Delta which has been instrumental in nurturing a lot of young visual artists by giving them space to flaunt their respective aesthetic talents.

“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,” said Moyo.