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The Transcience of Tanisha Bhana Article Image

The Transcience of Tanisha Bhana

Posted on 7 September 2014

Armed with only a camera, Tanisha Bhana ventures into the derelict spaces of our uban cities and captures whats left behind in the landscape. She explores the immense social and environmental upheaval of our time and the fundamental changes, deep-seated fears and fragmented structures experienced in our capitalist-driven world.

Her photographs often features models who are prostitutes by trade and she juxtaposes the destruction of the landscape with the feminine beauty of their bodies. Her works invite the viewer to remember their innermost pieces gone astray. Bhana states that they are the mirror that is left behind when the imprint of our footsteps remain. She spoke to us about her spiritual process and how her works connects her to people.

ARTCOZA [A]: How did you decide to do what you do?

TANISHA BHANA [TB]: After having pursued other interests, I always knew that I would come back to representing my view of the world in a visual form. When I realized that I would like to help others to simply "remember", I decided to share my thoughts and have been experimenting with ways to do this ever since. May the learning never stop and the excitement always be boundless with new discoveries every day!

[A]: In your subjective view, what makes a photograph good?

[TB]: The lingering moments in the subconscious thereafter.

Isabel's Harvest II

Photographic print

[A]: What's your secret obsession?

[TB]: Memories... I also like growing different herbs, seeing them sprout and picking them from the mud, then testing them out in my food or in tea.

[A]: Which South African artist would you most like to have a meal with?

[TB]: Too many. Everyday I learn from so many amazing thinkers and creative minds. Whenever I can, I do my best to sneak a few moments of time with some of them to understand their vision and motivation. They keep me inspired and alive.

[A]: Do you have a favourite photography gadget?

[TB]: Always moving, climbing and falling in the spaces I explore, I keep it simple. Its just the viewfinder and the landscape. I love chasing the sun and watching the shadows with a camera on my back.

[A]: What superpower would you have and why?

[TB]: I sincerely hope that my lifes work may have the capacity to heal, through the ancient power of the snake.

Mortal Remains II

Photographic print

[A]: What, in your opinion, is the hardest step in creating an artwork?

[TB]: For me, it is the calming of the wildest and most natural thoughts into recognizable symbols and then finding a way to convey them onto a medium through visual stimulation. Also, I really love working in a dream state or transporting dream scapes into a visual form. This conversion of dream into visual representation is sometimes very difficult.

[A]: What would you save from your burning house?

[TB]: As many living things as possible. Life is irreplaceable, although transient. The inanimate can be rebuilt if necessary.

[A]: What comes first? the chicken or the egg?

[TB]: They are one and the same in the cycle of life, and therefore exist at the same time.

[A]: What one thing that you have not done would you really like to do?

[TB]: I would love to spend the rest of my life just reconnecting even more with the people and places that naturally cross my path. I hope to find a way to do this in a way that that the ancients once did.

View her portfolio: www.art.co.za/tanishabhana

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