I am writing this at 12:39 PM at midnight, a moment of great clarity for me, when I suddenly remember who I am when doubt and fear disappear from my consciousness. Who am I? I have been trying to answer that question for close to ten years now. Ten years as a Zimbabwean female designer. Year after year that same question and others \u2013 am I making a difference? What am I doing here? Who is going to care in another ten years what I was selling? Will it be about the numbers; how much money we made? Or about the other numbers – how many lives were transformed or misled by our seductively designed campaign strategies? Who will care? Will I care?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And everyday again, that question \u2013 \u2018WHO ARE YOU Chiratidzo Chiweshe?\u2019 Who ARE you my inner me demands – screams at me! For a long time I have failed to answer because all I have just been is another cog in the machine, another piece of furniture in the studio – necessary but expendable. And for too long, as a person, as a woman, as a writer, as a designer and as an artist, I have felt that way about myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes I am necessary – but I am also expendable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Rage against the machine.” I laugh to myself, I cannot now remember which band it is that gave that title to their album; maybe it’s even the name of the band itself. Either way, it\u2019s a smashing title! It so perfectly sums up what being an artist has come to mean to me; I want to rage against the machine. I want to be a raging storm that shocks and throws everything off the kilter. I want to demand everything and give everything; I want to change the world. I know I can do it, as every artist since the beginning of time has always believed. But now I also know I\u2019m going to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being an artist, incorporates so much of what I truly am – it talks about the labour of bringing forth something that did not exist, of channeling the unknown and somehow translating it into something that everyone can not only understand – but have been desperately trying to understand, say, do and feel. Just like the right amount of seasoning on a steak – yes! That\u2019s it! That’s the right flavour! And that’s my job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My job is not to churn out pretty little adverts for money or fill a gap in a creative studio. Not to be necessary – but to be vital. I must be the key that turns the lock; the door to the future and to hope! I must be the channel. Not \u2018a\u2019, but \u2018the\u2019; Like the heart – that if it weren’t for me – everything would stop. But for that I must stop compromising. I must cease to compromise that which I am and believe. I must cease to fear myself and what I am capable of. It’s time to stop being a cog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So if I will not be a cog – what then shall I be? I will become more than what I am – like a legend, larger than life. You may call it arrogance and ego, but now I know for sure what it truly is – it is the true knowledge of oneself. I must seek the path of the true artist, I will become a student and a craftsman, I will be a labourer and I will bring forth fruit. Perhaps while I am at it, I will make a name for myself. But one thing I certainly must have is an answer to ‘who are you?’ in the midnight hour. And may my answer be better than “I’m just another cog in the great machine.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I am writing this at 12:39 PM at midnight, a moment of great clarity for me, when I suddenly remember who I am when doubt and fear disappear from my consciousness. Who am I? I have been trying to answer that question for close to ten years now. Ten years as a Zimbabwean female designer. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":308,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized"},"yoast_head":"\n