A facet of Shona life

My Scholarship entry - Rural life

Zimbabwe | Sunday, November 23, 2014 | 5 photos

I first fell in love with photography when I received a point and shoot digital camera twelve years ago. At the time, photography was just a creative outlet. Later, when I moved to Australia for study I experienced prejudice born of negative stereotypes associated with Africans.

I realised that the portrayal of my continent was important as people based their opinions on what they were exposed to. The media focused on negative news stories such as civil war, disease and poverty, and this drove the stereotypes. There is more to the African story than this narrow portrayal. It was at this point I began to look at my photography in a new light.

I bought a DSLR with a belief in the power of imagery. The photo of the 'napalm girl' changed the world’s mind about the Vietnam War. If a single photo can stop a war, I believe I can educate people and break down negative stereotypes through photography. I hope to use my images to tell a multifaceted story about African society. Being mentored by Jason would improve my story telling and photography skills, bringing me that much closer to fulfilling my dream of publishing a photo book about Africa.