Tatenda Chidora
Tatenda Chidora is a Zimbabwean visual artist based in Johannesburg, South Africa. His practice investigates and celebrates the multiplicity of Black expression, using performance and play to explore themes of place identity and manhood.
The design challenge was to create a portfolio website that showcases the range of the artist’s cultural, commercial and personal work while within a clear distinctive editorial voice. The site is inspired by a series of Zimbabwean passport books, where micro text frames large visuals. Tatenda’s work is cardinally editorial and we wanted the site to feel like a tactile concise printed photo book contrasting the never-ending scroll of the digital world.
The logotype uses CoFo Kabeltouw, a modular typeface with an industrial look that invokes the artist’s personal identity and universal adeptness. The type combines a strong technical look with the warmth of manually painted letters; mirroring the vernacular typography that animates the streets of most black/African communities all over the world. Times New Roman and Inter Tight are two meek typefaces that frame the artist’s vibrant and dynamic photographic work in an expanse of black space, the primordial source of all life and every image.
