experience
Tatenda Chidora is an award-winning Zimbabwean visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mainly known for commercial and fine art photography, his mode of visual storytelling both investigates and celebrates multifaceted expressions of blackness, and incorporates elements of performance and play to explore themes of identity, place, and manhood. We invited Tatenda, alongside videographer Julian Robinet, to spend a week at Singita Pamushana Lodge and document his experience – which culminated in the accompanying series of photographs. This interview took place following his stay. Tell me about how you came to be the person and artist you are today. Never in my life did I think I would be a photographer or visual storyteller. I always had a dream to become a chef. I wasn’t the most academically rich student in school. I was always better off with anything that had to do with my hands. I often say that I got tired of crying while cutting onions, so I chose photography. Growing up, I was fascinated by magazines and used to collect them. I believe that I was building a visual library at the back of my brain. I then decided to challenge myself to
create the images I was seeing and bought my first camera. Now that you’re based in South Africa, what does returning to Zimbabwe feel like for you? It mostly feels nostalgic. I tend to pick up and notice the subliminal everyday life elements that contribute to my visual language. Elements such as colour, textures, light, and the temperature of the sun and different plateaus always attract me to want to investigate a location. It’s always great being in a space filled with people who speak your mother tongue. At times, I tend to forget how effortless it can be when one has a conversation. My relations and conversations with people now always aid my practice because I am constantly drawing inspiration and phrases that I meditate on and end up using when I’m creating work. How does your photography reflect your connection to Africa and its diverse narratives? There is something beautiful about being an African residing in Africa. I feel I have the responsibility to narrate African stories from a point of accuracy because I have first-hand experience and, above all, the right to challenge the norms of society. The continent is vast
Previous spread An exploration of time, identity, place, and manhood. Left Visual artist Tatenda Chidora draws inspiration from the nature of his home country, Zimbabwe. Above A portrait of Tatenda.
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