Raphael Chikukwa

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is highly famed for its gallant legacy of resilience stemming from the contentious and turbulent history largely framed in terms of strained race relations and contested narratives of being and belonging. Lost and Found: Expectations, Uncertainty,

Excitement and Hope Exhibition provides a platform for Zimbabwean artists to reflect and interrogate the social and economic fabric in the country in light of its most recent political transition.

Zimbabwean people in the last two decades lost their hope and expectations. Their uncertainty and excitement that manifested on the 18th of November 2017 marked a turning point and became a perfect time to reflect and interrogate what being Zimbabwean truly means. Therefore, this experience led to the conceptualization of the Lost and Found: Expectations, Uncertainty, Excitement and Hope Exhibition.

The 18th of November 2017 has given hope to many Zimbabweans both at home and abroad. The Lost and Found: Expectations, Uncertainty, Excitement and Hope Exhibition seeks to reaffirm the position of the artist as the primary storyteller, using different media and in this exhibition their voices are heard. Such images confront the traumas that have beset

Lost and Found: Expectations, Uncertainty, Excitement and Hope

Davina Jogi

Zimbabwe

Davina Jogi is a documentary photographer from Zimbabwe who is currently working between Zimbabwe and Australia. She focuses on documenting social justice issues and has a particular interest in stories of identity and migration.

Davina studied at the University of Cape Town and the Market Photo Workshop in Johannesburg, South Africa. She spent 2 years working as an assistant picture editor at The Times newspaper also in Johannesburg before pursuing a freelance career and returning home to Zimbabwe.

As a freelancer she has worked with a variety of local and international newspapers, magazines and NGOs and her photography has been exhibited in southern Africa, Europe, USA and Australia.

Davina is the recipient of a number of grants and awards for her photography including a 2013 National Arts Merit Award – the premier award given by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe in recognition of outstanding achievements in the field of arts and culture.

She is also a founding and current director of the Zimbabwe Association of Female Photographers (ZAFP), which provides practical support and project-based training to women photographers.

Davina believes that, especially in the part of the world she comes from, the role of a journalist is as a storyteller and advocate.

It’s Not a Coup, It’s a Kiss Goodbye

This series documents the events that occurred in Zimbabwe in November 2017 that led to the resignation of President Robert Mugabe after 37 years in office.

On the 15th November, 2017 the Zimbabwe Defence Forces (ZDF) seized control of strategic locations in the capital city and placed the country’s 93-year-old president, Robert Mugabe, and his family under house arrest. The military intervention took place just over a week after the President had sacked Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa and was widely viewed as the final stage in a succession battle between the ousted Mnangagwa and First Lady, Grace Mugabe, who had been politicking to take over from her husband. Emboldened by the military presence, tens of thousands of Zimbabweans responded to a call by the leader of the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans Association (ZNLWVA), Christopher Mutsvangwa, and took to the streets in support of the ZDF and to call for the resignation of the President. The solidarity march marked the first time in nearly four decades that Zimbabweans were able to protest against Mugabe publically without fear of reprisal. Within a week, Mugabe had resigned and Emmerson Mnangagwa was inaugurated as President.

At the inauguration, many of the spectators had only ever known one President and it was an emotional occasion as people flocked from all over the country to be present for the historic changeover. Several days earlier, as Mnangagwa returned from exile after the military takeover that had ousted Mugabe, he proclaimed, “The people have spoken. The voice of the people is the voice of God.” His words were emblazoned on signs across the stadium and the promises he made in his inauguration speech gave people a reason to hope that the political and economic situation in the country might change for the better. Yet amongst the crowd, the heavy military presence could not be ignored serving as a reminder of Mnangagwa’s unorthodox ascension to power.

Jekesai Njikizana

Zimbabwe

I love things historical. Feats, follies and glories of time gone. I had neither time nor patience to read bulky volumes of history texts but I love to watch history. I find my work as a photojournalist as one of recording – while being mindful not to interrupt – history as it unfolds. I see myself as the keen recorder who should be ever alert and close to the centre of events and at close quarters with the principal actors. I was born under oppression before Zimbabwe’s independence so my relationship with the great power Robert

Mugabe is not professional but personal. We were mere toddlers who exchanged mythical tales about the Great Liberator i grew up with him as the national leader. We have had our ups and downs.

I have lived through the euphoria of liberation and the lows of hyperinflation, food and cash shortages. As a young man I have always been drawn to the pictures bound at the centre pages of history books and whenever they are powerful they ignite a curiosity in me regards the major players of these historic outcomes. I have always wondered about the people behind the camera. What were they doing whilst others were shaping history and if they knew at the time that they were witnesses to history? The people were dancing in the dark to their new found voices!! They were once again in loud sync with one another away from the whispered voices of dissent and fears of the recent past.

Lost and Found

I love things historical.Feats, follies and glories of time gone. I had neither time nor patience to read bulky volumes of history texts but I love to watch history.

I find my work as a photojournalist as one of recording – while being mindful not to interrupt – history as it unfolds. I see myself as the keen recorder who should be ever alert and close to the center of events and at close quarters with the principal actors. In this instance of the “Lost and Found” collection I was close to the waning power of a legend, “The Great Leader.” I was born under oppression before Zimbabwe’s independence so my relationship with the great power Robert Mugabe is not professional but personal. We were mere toddlers who exchanged mythical tales about the Great Liberator i grew up with him as the national leader. we have had our ups and downs.

I have lived through the euphoria of liberation and the lows of hyperinflation, food and cash shortages.

As a young man i have always been drawn to the pictures bound at the center pages of history books and whenever they are powerful they ignite a curiosity in me regards the major players of these historic outcomes. I have always wondered about the people behind the camera. what were they doing whilst others were shaping history and if they knew at the time that they were witnesses to history. The people were dancing in the dark to their new found voices!! They were once again in loud sync with one another away from the whispered voices of dissent and fears of the recent past. People sing and dance as they find their long lost voices.

In this “Lost and Found” series i have chosen and singled out “the people” as the lost and found element.

People’s Voice

People’s Leader

People’s Movement

People’s Army

People’s Choice

In Zimbabwe the “voice of the people” had been lost for a generation and has perhaps for a window period been found, fingers crossed. Will that voice remain found or will it always need to be buttressed by the people’s army as they dance to a tune blown on

Ralph Chikambi

Zimbabwe

I am a self taught photographer based in Harare Zimbabwe. My first love for photography was street photography and I would go to the corner of the road and sit there camera in hand and snap away capturing everyday life as it passed by me. I still do it from time to time as personal projects and I get significant orders for prints form my street photography. Over the past years l have been doing documentary photography for the NGO sector. This is something I love as I get to tell and document stories of people from various places and backgrounds. It is actually more than just telling a story as you interact with the people you tend to create a bond.

Lost & Found: Expectations, Uncertainty, Excitement & Hope

This body of work is a documentation through my lens of events that transpired in Harare,

Zimbabwe in November 2017. The work I did was over three days, the 18th, the 22nd and the 25th. On 18 November the Zimbabwean War Veterans Association arranged a march to the state house for President Robert Mugabe to resign. This started with a rally at Zimbabwe grounds in Highfields which is about 15km from the CBD where I captured those who where on stage and I also photographed those who didn’t make to the rally but where excited and stood in the roads and witnessed the long procession of cars and buses make its way to the CBD. Frozen moments from my camera where those of the people who would climb on top and behind the buses because the buses where full to the brim.

On 22 November I was snapping away at Manyame Air Base, photographing people holding plauqcards who where receiving the incoming President Mnangagwa . Three days later I found myself in the terasis of the National sports stadium capturing people celebrate the inauguration. Most of my work focused on capturing the emotions of the ordinary citizen as I was among them. I liked using black and white as it is my choice of expressing my work.

Zinyange Auntony

Zimbabwe

Zinyange Auntony is an independent multimedia journalist and documentary photographer from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe.

He has a special interest in documentary work that draws attention to under-reported stories on human rights, social justice and environmental issues in Africa. Zinyange Auntony trained at Market Photo Workshop, Johannesburg, South Africa where he completed a course in Photojournalism and Documentary Photography in 2014. In 2016, he was selected to participate in the first World Press Photo Masterclass East Africa in Nairobi, Kenya.

Zinyange showed Profile Pic/Alter Ego for the House Of Menka at National Gallery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

He also exhibited A common heritage for humanity for the Intwasa Arts Festival (2013) at the National Gallery in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

In 2011 Zinyange exhibited Pimp My Kombi for the Gwanza Month of Photography at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Harare.

Mugabe Must Go

My choice of subject comes from a place of intuition as a photographer. I look for the light within the shadows, the stories that are not at first obvious, but they are unfolding around me everyday.

I photograph ordinary people in their environments because I am curious of what lies behind their eyes, to tell their histories, where have they been and where do they hope to go.

I use a photojournalistic and documentary approach to explore the nuances of time as it passes from past to present to future. Recently I have begun to work with portraits, using light and shadows to illustrate the abstract and the evocative as a motif for the idea of freedom and expression. This experimental approach has been a constant learning curve and a reminder to me that what I create through the viewfinder is not only reality to me but that reality can also be expressed as an artform.

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The Addis Foto Fest (AFF) was established in 2010 by award-winning photographer and cultural entrepreneur, Aida Muluneh. The festival is organized by Desta for Africa Creative Consulting PLC. AFF is a biennial international photography festival held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It has previously featured exhibitions, portfolio reviews, conferences, projections and film screenings in many different renowned venues. It is also the first and only international photography festival in East Africa.

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