On a Saturday afternoon in February, Tinashe Sithole (alias) packs his wide array of camera equipment as he heads for what he assumes will be an easy job in one of Harare’s northern suburbs.
At the stroke of lunch hour, a metallic silver Range Rover drives up to the front door of his two roomed cottage in Waterfalls. The curtain on his landlord’s living room twitches.
“The rent is definitely going to get raised next month,” he jokingly remarks to himself as he approaches the SUV. Three olive skinned middle aged women get out of the car to hug Sithole.
The aroma of lavish living and their Italian high fashion jumpsuit instantly make Sithole regret the USD100 fee he charged for a pregnancy photoshoot. It seems like breakfast change to these clients.
Sithole observes that two of the ladies are pregnant, though one is more farther along than the other. He assumes that she is the one who texted him on WhatsApp.
As they are travelling, the heavily pregnant lady says to him, “I hope you don’t mind. My friends will be joining me for the photoshoot. I wasn’t feeling really comfortable doing this alone. Don’t worry you will be fairly compensated.”
Sithole casually agrees but inside his head, he is doing mental fist pumps and somersaults for this moment is too good to be true.
He will be handed three hundred dollar bills for two hours of positioning, focusing and clicking. On a normal weekend, the task to earn $50 is laborious and a cause for celebration.
Life has not been rosy for the local photography industry.
A tricky assignment
But it turns out that he will earn every cent of his money in a long two hours filled with tension and awkwardness.
His clients take him to the beautiful gardens of their home explaining how they want to have a Back to Eden and natural garden theme for the photoshoot.
His photographer’s eye tells him that the yellow matching jumpsuits the ladies are wearing will provide a perfect contrast to the green background.
As he is setting up his equipment, he suddenly stops, shocked.
The ladies are all undressing. Instinctively he looks away rationalizing that the women must have some clothes tucked away somewhere in nature.
When one of the women says, “We are ready,” Sithole turns around, to find all three in their birthday suits, barely covering their essential parts with fresh leaves and flower petals.
He wakes up to the fact that his first nude photoshoot is not as glamourous as he would have imagined. In fact, he had not imagined it at all! He feels like a rabbit trapped by the fatal beautiful flashes of python’s scales, clueless and nervous.
His trembling fingers struggle to locate the shutter button and adjust the camera lens. Sithole is an emotional wreck.
But he forces all the restraints of his lifetime moral code that prohibits him from looking at naked women that are not intimate companions and focuses on the USD300 fee.
“I felt like a whore going against my whole belief system for money,” he says.
Sithole’s story is the voice of many photographers are confronting the emerging trend of nude photography.
Products of nude photoshoots are being exhibited on social media platforms.
Once regarded as fabric of Western tradition, nude photography and by extension nude art has breached the tightly woven and rather conservative walls of local culture.
Zimbabweans traditionally were rather liberal in exposing the body. With the coming of missionaries and colonialism into the country, Victorian prudishness became the hallmark of respectability.
Could nude portraits be rebellion of present generations, fraying of society’s moral fabric or just artistic expression?
This image was share don Twitter and pulled down shortly after
Various conversations that this writer had with players within the photography and image sector revealed a tale of contrasting perspectives.
The general feeling expressed by the men behind the lens reflect conflict while local models seem to have embraced the culture of nude art.
Most photographers that were spoken to said that they were not comfortable with doing nude photoshoots.
Nyasha Chawatama(36) of Chany Media productions said association with nude art is a virtual death sentence for the career of a photographer.
“I don’t want my brand to be associated with such kind of content because it tarnishes my name in the industry. As a professional photographer, it is better if I focus on corporate events.” he said. Motivate Media owner Anesu Kure of Mutare says he once did a nude photoshoot at the request of an upcoming model but has reservations about the trend.
“We are forced to swallow our morals when the price is too tempting, which it often is,” said Kure, adding that many photographers take the money but do not brand the products to avoid direct association.
Traditionalist and native culture advocate David Mutambirwa of Mhakwe Heritage Trust said nude art has no place in Zimbabwean society.
“Zimbabweans are a people who value their culture, norms and values. Despite our primitive dressing in historical times, a woman’s body was always highly respected. Even in Christian or Muslim practices, nudity is not something that is condoned.
"What we are seeing at present are the machinations of western culture that has penetrated the impressionable minds of our young people,” said Mutambirwa.
In stark contrast, local models have welcomed the phenomenon of nude photography.
Freelance model Nozithelo Moyo(22) said that though perceptions are gradually changing, the majority or Zimbabweans still has a misconstrued view of nude photography.
"People have different views of nude photography. Some understand and they are some who don't understand. In Zimbabwe there are those who consider themselves as conservative and identify Zimbabwe as a conservative society so it's hard for them to understand."
"They think it is encouraging pornography or selling your body and they have this negative stigma around it. This comes from the majority of Zimbabweans."
"On the other hand we also have people who understand art and the modelling industry and they get it. They understand that it is part and parcel of fashion and it is here to stay."
"After all modelling is a form of art and communication, it is like music. If we have sexual content in music then the same standards should apply to modelling," she said.
South African based Zimbabwean male model Ronald Zulu (23) says nudity in art goes beyond morals and should be viewed as an artistic performance that is divorced from the confines of conventional societal norms and ethos.
"It is acting, on the picture I am playing a character. It has got nothing to do with who I am. It is a scene I am in and I follow the script of what I should do."
"A lot of people appreciate it and at the end of the day, it is all art. People accept body painting but with nude photography, they become skeptical. However, the American industry is normalizing nudity and Africa is slowly coming on board." said Zulu.
What does the law say about sharing nude images?
The contrasting views present a unique challenge for media and cultural law and policy makers to map a way forward for the phenomenon of nude photography.
Zim Now was unable to verify reports of the arrest of a teen in Bulawayo who recently posted an image showing herself in the streets wearing nothing but a sheer skirt that left her genitalia on show.
At present, two acts of legislation speak on nudity but do not specifically address the idea of nudity as an artistic form of expression.
The Censorship and Entertainment Act talks about the prohibition of importation, production and dissemination of undesirable publications, pictures, statues and records.
The law, in this case, prohibits a person from importing (that is bringing from elsewhere), print, publish, manufacture, make or produce, distribute, display, exhibit or sell or offer or keep for sale any publication, picture, statue or record or publicly play any record; which is undesirable or which has been declared by the Censorship Board to be undesirable.
The Act goes on to state that should anybody be found guilty of such conduct, such a person will be sentenced to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years to both such imprisonment and fine.
The second legislation tabled was the Cyber Security and Data Protection Act of 2021 which criminalizes the sharing and distribution of images or video content showing genitalia.
Nompilo Simanje, a legal expert on media issues with the Media Institute on Southern Africa says interpretation of semantics might criminalize what is being perceived as an art form and there is need for specific legislation that deals with nude art.
"Access to Information and Freedom of expression are virtues which are enshrined in our national Constitution. If it can be proven that nude photography is a form of artistic expression that does not trample on other fundamental rights and freedoms then there is grounds for a new act to be tabled or a code of conduct to be formulated within the affected sectors that governs that."
"With our existing laws, it is a grey area which can be misinterpreted and criminalizes an otherwise widely practiced art form," said Simanje
Nude art finds its roots in the Ancient Greeks and came back in the late 15th century with The Vitruvian Man by Leonardo da Vinci still one of the most celebrated art works in the world.
Europe based musician Vimbai Zimuto became a social media sensation in 2018 after she shared nude pictures of herself on her Facebook platform.
South African artists Zodwa Libram a.k.a Zodwa WaBantu and Skolopad have gained acclaim as champions of liberation of the body.
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