Her exhibition on the dire state of water and sanitation in Harare titled The Cycle earned photographer, Davina Jogi  an Outstanding Exhibition accolade in the  visual  arts category at the 2013 edition of the National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA). We had a quick get- to- know with the shutterbug…

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I am a 29-year old photojournalist. I grew up in Harare and then I left for South Africa to study photography at the University of Cape Town as well as at the Market Photography Workshop (a photography school) in Johannesburg. I was then employed as Assistant Photo Editor at The Times newspaper in South Africa. I was nominated twice for the World Press Photo`s Joop Swart Masterclass and selected to participate in their project, The Road to 2010 and Beyond which provided a platform for African journalists to tell the story of the FIFA 2010 World Cup.

I returned back home in 2010 and I have been doing freelance photography work. I do all sorts of photography like your weddings and parties but my first love is social documentary photography. This is where you take some time looking at an issue and getting to understand the people who are being affected by it and capturing their experiences.

The Cycle came about when I was awarded a grant from the Market Photography Workshop in 2012. There was an open application for the union advocacy grant which was specifically for a South African but I applied and got the grant. You had to pick something that you felt was affecting the society you live in, so I chose to look at the issue of water and sanitation in Harare. Hence, the name The Cycle which was basically an interpretation of how water comes from Lake Chivero and back, showing the processes that take place and those that are not.

Capturing  everything on camera took bit of time from March – June 2012. The first exhibition was shown in South Africa and then it came to Harare at the National Art Gallery from mid-November to mid-December.  I got a lot of help from the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe Curator, Raphael Chikukwa.

I didn’t know much about the NAMAs and I never thought that an ordinary person like me would win one. A friend of mine saw my exhibition at the National Art Gallery and encouraged me to apply for the award.  Being nominated and winning the NAMA all came as a huge surprise for me.

Jogi is currently the President of the Zimbabwe Association of Female Photographers, a training and networking platform  for female photographers. She also plans to venture into visual arts focusing on 3 dimensional works, so watch this space.

Images from Davina Jogi’s winning exhibition,The Cycle.     DAVINA JOGI