Vuminkosi Zulu was born on 24 November 1948 in Mapumulo, KwaZulu-Natal. From the age of thirteen Zulu attended school in Kranskop for six years and completed Standard VII at Kranskop High School. From 1970 to 1972 he attended Rorke's Drift. In 1973 he was awarded the Hajee Sulman Ebrahim Memorial Trust award. He worked for a time with Mahlangu in the Transvaal before returning to Rorke's Drift again between 1976 and 1977.
He created a monumental woodcarving entitled 'The Battle of Isandlwana' in 1982 for which he was awarded a sculpture prize. This piece is in the old KwaZulu parliamentary building in Ulundi. Together with many of his colleagues his work was shown at the Brooklyn Museum's 'Black South Africa: Contemporary Graphics' exhibition in 1976 and in an exhibition that toured Germany in 1978 and 1979. In 1990 he received the Thupelo scholarship which allowed him to spend six months in Sweden. Before his death he worked at the Caversham Press in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands. Examples of his work can be seen in numerous South African and overseas collections. Zulu died in 1996.
Exhibitions:
1973: DAM (Art SA Today).
1974: Diakonia House, Johannesburg (Black Art, sponsored by the Programme for Social Change and Devcraft).
1976: Brooklyn Museum and Public Library, New York, USA (Black SA Contemporary Graphics).
1978-9: West Germany-tour (SA Graphic Art 1977).
1979: Barclay Square Shopping Centre, Pretoria (two-person exhibition with Judus Mahlangu).
1984: UZ (African Arts Festival Exhibition).
1987: TAG (Rorke's Drift Fine Art School in Retrospect).
UZ (African Arts Festival Exhibition).
NSA, Durban (UZ African Arts Festival Exhibition).
1988: SANG (Wood).
Awards:
1973: Art SA Today (Hajee Suliman Ebrahim Memorial award).
1982: UZ (first prize for sculpture).
Commissions:
1985: Commission at Mariannhill.
1988: Commission at UN.
Collections:
DAM; KC; KwaZulu Parliamentary Building Assembly Hall, Ulundi; Museum fur Volkerkunde, Frankfurt am Main, West
Germany; SANG; UN; UNISA; UZ.