Tamary Kudita Zimbabwe, b. 1994
African Victorian, 2019
"This image was the beginning of my series. It was created in 2020 when there was an artist's call to reimagine the works of a Dutch painter named Rembrandt in a local context. To go back to the begining I thought about the invention of Africa and the degrading tropes that emerged rendering us invisible. I thought about what it would mean to use the camera as a tool for liberation. Instead of categorizing, defining and subjugating the sitter I chose to emancipate, undo and reclaim her pace in history using photography. I turned to signifiers of tradition in Zimbabwe. Holding a sweeper as a power object contributing to ideas of femineity. I challenged the idea of modernity and tradition through the use of fabric and intentionally worked with fabrics which weren't silent but bold. The sitters are freed."
—Tamary Kudita
"This image was the beginning of my series. It was created in 2020 when there was an artist's call to reimagine the works of a Dutch painter named Rembrandt in a local context. To go back to the begining I thought about the invention of Africa and the degrading tropes that emerged rendering us invisible. I thought about what it would mean to use the camera as a tool for liberation. Instead of categorizing, defining and subjugating the sitter I chose to emancipate, undo and reclaim her pace in history using photography. I turned to signifiers of tradition in Zimbabwe. Holding a sweeper as a power object contributing to ideas of femineity. I challenged the idea of modernity and tradition through the use of fabric and intentionally worked with fabrics which weren't silent but bold. The sitters are freed."
—Tamary Kudita