Lawyer by day, photographer always
Tanisha Bhana, left, expresses her creativity through her pictures, many of which she manipulates digitally. Her work is on display at the Bayliss Gallery in Johannesburg
ARMED with her Nikon D 7000, Johannesburg lawyer Tanisha Bhana ventures into places few people would risk visiting.
In these forgotten, hazardous spaces, she takes photographs then digitally manipulates the images to tell the stories of the people she meets and the places she has been.
Bhana, 37, does this every weekday once she has knocked off from her fulltime job as a lawyer.
In her second profession, she uses the silent voices in her surroundings to “imagine the human footprint left behind and create a poignant imagery that stirs the subconscious mind”.
“I have been interested in photography since I was a child,” she said. “I chose to study law and after completing my degree I pursued my passion for photography.
“I go to places most people would rather stay away from — abandoned, discarded, consumed wastelands are my subjects. I am drawn to them for some reason.
“I explore different topics on how we produce, distribute and consume our space and what it does to us as individuals. I feel we have become detached from our natural ecosystem.”
Bhana has shot pictures throughout South Africa and has travelled abroad.
One trip was to Ukraine to capture the stories of the thousands of Chernobyl residents who were given two hours to flee their homes when the nuclear power plant exploded 28 years ago this month.
She has also photographed two prostitutes working in Johannesburg.
“My pictures of prostitutes Nasreen and Gita are explicit, but they tell the story of these women and how they got to be where they are now.
“Nasreen and I have similarities: we both grew up in Durban and were from middle-class families. A death in Nasreen’s family led to her becoming a prostitute to make a living.
“With Gita, she has to put on a mask and take on different personalities to suit her clients.”
Bhana’s pictures are “haunting” because she believes we are all haunted in some way. Her work is multilayered — she sometimes takes about 20 images and overlays them to create a dreamlike link to the subconscious.
Bhana will hold a solo exhibition at the Resolution Gallery in Johannesburg in June. At the moment, her work is on display in the new Bayliss Art Gallery in Norwood.
Gallery owner Paul Bayliss said he intended to give young, emerging artists the opportunity to display their works and become recognised.
“Tanisha is an aspiring artist with phenomenal talent,” he said.
“We want to help her to build her brand and get her name out there.”