Matemera became the symbolic leader of the Tengenenge community and from the 1980s gained worldwide recognition, with works included in exhibitions in the US, UK, Germany, The Netherlands and elsewhere.

Matemera’s sculptures are in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, the Chapungu Sculpture Park, the Museum fur Völkerkunde, Frankfurt and many others. Many of Bernard's exhibition pieces, such as Great Spirit Woman (Serpentine, 1982), have toured worldwide.

Bernard Matemera died in March 2006.