Artist paints a picture of injustice Artist BOKANI TSHIDZU talks about how her work draws attention to global issues and highlights the dignity of all people Interview by Sarah Olowofoyeku
REBECCA MURSELL
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ECAUSE of her family background, Bokani Tshidzu thought that art was not a career she could pursue fulltime. But a pilgrimage and a painting competition helped to change that. ‘Having migrated from Zimbabwe, my family just wanted me to study something that would give me the highest probability of being able to get a stable job,’ she tells me, over Zoom from London where she works. ‘So even though I was doing well in both English literature and economics, I went to Bath University to read politics and economics. ‘In the third year, you take a year out in industry so I worked at an investment bank. But I hated it. I could see it wasn’t where I wanted to work. Because I was so stressed with the job, a friend recommended I do a weekend creativity course, and that’s where I discovered painting.’ Bokani returned to university to finish her degree, and held on to painting as a hobby and a healthy way of coping with stress. ‘With art, I was also able to articulate feelings that I couldn’t express with words,’ she explains. ‘So I continued painting, then a friend organised
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