Tapiwa Chapo's Online Portfolio

Art is a type of language which helps us visually communicate emotional and physical responses to the world we live in.

We need art to enrich our environment, to develop our creative responses, to learn about culture and society through the study of art and to communicate ideas visually through skilful handling of materials.

The starting point of my inspiration is based on nature and environment, meaning most of my images have been shaped by my experience of Shona culture. To me art is a moral necessity; content, symbolism, message and moral are as functional as form and beauty. Making art can change action by which mind refers its sensations to external objects as a cause.

I see it in the same way as poetry can sustain the life of language through new forms of usage – so the visual arts can also break new grounds through the handling of materials and the process of imagination.

I try to create art which pushes visual language in new directions involving myself in a dialogue through material, language, meaning and function. I see my art as part of a continuous dialogue between me and my audience. Through my art I treat and respect the material as a living force crying to be freed.