Tatenda Chidora is a Zimbabwean visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mainly known for commercial and fine art photography, his mode of visual storytelling intends to both investigate and celebrate the multifaceted expression of blackness. Chidora’s work uses elements of performance and play to explore themes of place, identity
and manhood.

Through his iconoclastic portraiture, he is questioning the traditional notions of masculinity, and its ever-expanding potential ‘to be soft’. He draws from fashion, history and cultural aesthetics to create dynamic compositions that offer alternative visions of being, imbued with a sense of connection, imagination and community.

While his work may resonate with a particularly African experience, it reflects on the universal shift to re-defining and translating the complex beauty of the black identity, and in turn contributing to a contemporary visual tapestry. His photographic interests extend to exploring the everyday, which he encounters through his architecture and landscape works.

Exhibitions and Publications

  • 2014

    Povo Arts and Culture Journal Issue 5, 2014

  • 2015

    BTech Final Work Exhibition, Tshwane University of Technology. Pretoria.

    Fresh Meat Graduate, 10and5, Cape Town.

    UnOrdinary Exhibition, 10and5, Cape Town.

    Sub-Culture Group Exhibition, Long Street Art Lovers, Pretoria.

    Trent Gallery, Letters to the past or the future, Pretoria.

    You are Here 2015, Charity Exhibition against Human Trafficking, Johannesburg.

  • 2016

    Cape Peninsula University of Technology, District 6 - 50th Artist Print exchange and Exhibition, Cape Town.

  • 2017

    University of Stellenbosch Museum Art, Khula Ukhokhobe, Cape Town.

    Semaphore, Anomalies, Switzerland.

    Fried Contemporary Gallery, Progeny - Group Exhibition, Pretoria.

    Innibos, Group Exhibition, Mpumalanga.

    North West University, Aardklop - Group Exhibition, Potchefstroom.

    Fried Contemporary Gallery, Fried Contemporary Young Collectors III, Pretoria.

  • 2018

    KKNK 2018, True Self, Open Dialogues - Group Exhibition

    Unsettled Exhibition - Group Exhibition, Pretoria.

    Orms School of Photography, Half Tone Analog Exhibition and Publication, Cape Town.

    Print Art Then and Now 1960 – 2018 - Group Exhibition.

    Bkhz, Behind The Lens - Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    Absa Art Gallery, A Letter to my 22-year-old self - Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    Addis Foto Fest 2018, Addis Ababa.

  • 2019

    No End Contemporary, Cure The Powerless - Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    Bkhz, Process - Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    FNB Art Fair 2019 – Bkhz - Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    Bkhz, Until We Safe, Tatenda Chidora - Solo Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    Pretoria Art Museum, X_POSURE - Group Exhibition, Pretoria.

    Oath - Vol I, Cape Town.

  • 2020

    BKHZ, Blue is the Warmest Colour - Group Exhibition, Cape Town.

    Trent Gallery, Optimista Obscura - Group Exhibition, Pretoria.

    Sharjah Art Museum, Homebound: A journey in Photography - Group Exhibition, Sharjah - United Arab Emirates.

    Apartment, vol 2, Group Exhibition, Cape Town.

    BKHZ, A Time for Endings and Beginnings, Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

  • 2021

    Oath - Vol II, Cape Town.

    Oath – Try a Little Tenderness – Group Exhibition, Cape Town.

    BKHZ, If Covid was a Colour, Tatenda Chidora - Solo Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    AKAA Art Fair – Group Exhibition, Paris.

    artHarare – Group Exhibition, Harare.

  • 2022

    Trent Gallery, Stains of Love – Group Exhibition, Pretoria.

    Cunningham Contemporary, Singita Art – Group Exhibition, Sabi Sands.

    The Caring Gallery, Multiples – Group Exhibition, Paris.

    BKHZ, If not now, then when? – Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

  • 2023

    Valid World Hall Gallery, Life Framer Photography Prize, Edition VIII Winners – Group Exhibition, Barcelona.

    FotoZa Gallery, Life Framer Photography Prize, Edition VIII Winners – Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    Pictura Gallery, Life Framer Photography Prize, Edition VIII Winners – Group Exhibition, Bloomington.

    BKHZ, A field of Dreams – Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    BKHZ, FNB Art Fair – Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    BKHZ, 1-54 London – Group Exhibition, London.

    Belfast Exposed Gallery, British Journal of Photography, Portrait of Humanity Vol. 5 Series Award – Group Exhibition,

    Belfast.

    The State Gallery of Art - Indian Photo Festival, British Journal of Photography, Portrait of Humanity Vol. 5 Series Award –

    Group Exhibition, Hyderabad.

  • 2024

    Trent Gallery, Roodeplaat Charity Exhibition - Group Exhibition, Pretoria.

    Atelier Grand Village, FNB Art Fair – Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    Africa Foto Fair, 2024 Foto Fair – Group Exhibition, Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.

    Path Nomad, Art Photo Exhibition – Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.

  • 2025

    Atelier Grand Village, London Original Print Fair – Group Exhibition, London.

    The Heilongjiang Museum of Printmaking, The Printed Image from Stone, Two Centuries of Lithography in Europe –

    Group Exhibition, Harbin, China.

    Atelier Grand Village at Trent – Group Exhibition, Pretoria.

    BKHZ, A Lot Has Been Happening - Solo Exhibition, Johannesburg.

    artHarare, The Colour “Gentle” – Solo Exhibition, Cape Town.

  • 2026

    DacOnDorp, Silence – Group Exhibition, Cape Town.

    Roger Ballen Centre for Photography, Fashion_The Image – Group Exhibition, Johannesburg.