Peeking behind Zim’s colonization through the lens...

Peeking behind Zim’s colonization through the lens of Tamary Kudita

Audrey Galawu

“Zimbabwe has so much to offer and it takes a certain kind of eye to see this. The key to a story worth telling is its ability to open a door to wonder. A door that opens a world of lasting significance,” says Tamary Kudita.

Tamary is an award-winning South-Africa-based Zimbabwean photographer who tells the African story exploring the impact of Zimbabwe’s colonial experience on African life and identity through her work.

She started her photography journey at the University of Cape Town. Her degree included fine art disciplines such as printmaking, sculpture, animation, painting and photography.

She believes that photographers are storytellers before anything.

“Think about your favourite book and how the author takes you on a journey right from the introductory line to “the end”. A story is a real or imagined account intended to entertain, educate, or inform.

“That’s how I view my photography. Intentionally crafting narratives which borrow from lived realities allows my photography to exist in both the imaginary and the present day. Except that there is no end, only continuity. With the instantaneous nature of photography, it is important to create with meaning and to have a strong point of view. The best stories resonate because they speak to something universal in the human experience,” she says.

Tamary recently exhibited among a phenomenal group of female artists in an exhibition curated by Ruzy Rusike in Melrose Joburg, which to her, was a dream come true which comes with.

“It’s a dream come true! These past five years have been enriching. Not only did I learn the value of hard work but also that success comes with setting small goals which turn the invisible into the visible. Like most people my journey began with making the most out of the little that I had which prompted me to be innovative.

“Another key factor was collaborating with likeminded creatives who offered different perspectives. Exhibiting amongst other artists is another form of collaboration because seeing the world through other people’s eyes is an important part of humanity,” says Tamary.

Four of her pieces featured at the exhibition included Liberty 1980, Vessel, The Gathering and Lotus which convey a truthful narrative and demonstrate how she engages with issues of invisibility and re-contextualisation to subvert preconceived ideas of black personhood.

She says the work was part of a larger body of work titled African Victorian, with all the pieces having an underlying theme which speaks to the complexities of the African identity.

“In the image titled Lotus, I aimed to create a fantastical reality where the sitter was a centrepiece to a grander narrative. The staff is symbolic of authority, dominance and presence which are sometimes words which aren’t associated with the female identity. In doing so I challenge the understanding of gendered identities by implementing cultural objects. The title of the piece lotus is emblematic of the faith within ourselves.

“The image titled ‘Liberty 1980’, was created in an attempt to mediate the presence and absence of women in Zimbabwean liberation struggles. The sitter stands to represent the Zimbabwean female war veterans who went unrecognised and unseen. As a result of being drawn to liberation movements, I drift towards romanticism stylistically in order to depict the pandemonium which epitomised colonial Zimbabwe.

“Furthermore, I interrogate the meaning embedded in statues and their dominance and presence through a concrete visual language shown across borders. I aim to highlight female heroines in the exact same manner through emphasising her grandeur.

The image titled The Gathering explores the place of fabric in the refashioning of cultural, racial and gendered identities.

“As well it’s use as a vehicle with which to challenge structures of power that render certain people’s histories and cultural expressions invisible. In order to contribute to new imaginings of African identities, I looked at hair, invoking forms of architecture and bringing traditional hairstyles into the present. Furthermore, I looked at the idea of the dress as a fortress and how women used it to armour themselves against the ideals of a patriarchal society.

Her last piece titled Vessel, Tamary says she was exploring the idea of roots and routes which were shaped by patterns of migration.

The photography explored the idea of identity as a continuum which can be shaped by a tangible connection to a place.

Some of her work is permanently featured at the Betsy Hotel in Miami after she exhibited at the Miami Beach Art Week 2022.

Kudita graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2017 at Michaelis School of Fine Art at the University of Cape Town.

Her first solo exhibition was held at the PH Centre Gallery in Cape Town which explored notions of race and representation. Her previous exhibitions titled Maintaining Memories have been held at the Michaelis Galleries also in Cape Town.

In 2021, she won the Sony World Photography Open Photographer of the Year.

She says she will be working on a new photography project which explores the beauty of still lives and the birth of renaissance floral arrangements and venturing into film in the near future.