Tandazani Dhlakama 2010/2011

Life is always giving us signs and codes that reveal hidden truths from the past. These hints are supposed to warn us, encourage us or help us to understand why we are at the place we are at.  As I grow up, I hear the echoes more distinctly and more often. As a result of this, my work is an exploration of personal memory, history and cultural values. It is an analysis of how the past can affect one’s present and can create a new sense of identity.

I experiment with textures by using various organic materials in unconventional ways. This is because organic material such as earth, wood and stone all a have a sense of history to them. In some cases, these elements outlast generations of people. I merge old traditions and ideas with new concepts and techniques to portray how the past is linked to the present.

Through my work, I explore my Zimbabwean history, in particular the Chimurenga War years. I reference particular narratives that I have heard from my father and older family members. Thus, my work is enables me to better understand to the challenges that they have gone through.

Images can also be viewed  HERE.

I have always grown up thinking that my dad is a hero. Even during my rebellious stages as a 15 year old, I always looked up to my dad and esteemed him for all that he has done. To me, my dad might as well be Nelson Mandela. They both served hefty sentences because of their political views and struggle for human rights during the Independence movements. They both came out of that experience with enlightened views of the world and they both forgave their oppressors.

Little boys like to play with plastic super heroes. They get so excited about each new action figure and treat it like its a treasure.

I have grown to know that there is no such thing as a perfect hero. My dad has never been perfect and he has made some mistakes through out his life. A plastic action figure can break, get lost in the garden, or loose a limb. In the same way, real life heroes like my dad are fragile. Their health can affect them in negative ways.

My idea is to highlight heroism, and to show the fragility that every real life hero has. I also want to show how the concept of heroism is very personal. Each little boy is personally attached to his action figures. His life revolves around those figures in ways that the boy’s siblings, parents or friends may not fully understand. In the same way, my dad is just another ordinary man to people around me. He may only be a hero in my eyes alone. That is totally fine. I want to hightlight this too. I have already began playing around with imagery of action figures and the like.

In the collages above, I am playing around with the idea of colonization. Imagine if imperialism had occurred the other way around, for example if Africans had settled and conquered Europe. What would that look like, would would the first African explore do or say? I chose European buildings, (including one church) and collaged some Zulu dancers and a Shona diviner. Just as colonization brought about Christianity to Africa, perhaps the diviner would have brought ancestral worship to Europe.

In the other images, I am playing around with the idea of mother and child, art and beauty. During the Byzantine era, the stiff faced expressionless Madonna was considered beautiful and appealing. In West Africa, things that were considered appealing included Hleeta a form of scarification on the skin. The concept of what is art and beauty is appealing in different way to different people.  In these images I am also showing the marriage between Western and African culture. What does it mean to be authentically African, or authentically European? The two have come together to create new ideas of identity, well at least in my life they have.

What does it mean to be a hero? Who are my personal heroes?