How ‘PunkandBlack’ honours the beauty of black skin

Have you ever stumbled upon photographs that evoke intense emotions, making you question the authenticity of the subjects captured?

Vanessa Mwingira, a renowned photographer in Tanzania and beyond, has dedicated her lens to portraying the natural allure of black skin.

Her photographic journey, spanning over six years, has earned her the moniker 'PunkandBlack,' signifying her unwavering dedication to celebrating the beauty of black skin.

Her muses are 'out of this world' melanized people, most of whom are women. She has mastered the art of playing with different shades of black in the presence of other colours.

This includes the colours complementing the garments worn by these muses as well as the lights and shadows.

Her story began when she was a primary student at Academic International School, situated in the Mikocheni suburbs. While a student, Vanessa discovered her love for art when she was first introduced to it.

"The teachers encouraged students to become engaged with art, and whenever it was time to learn anything art-related, I fused to be over the moon because I loved the subject," she starts.

However, as school life grew busier, Vanessa temporarily set aside her artistic pursuits.

It wasn't until 2013 that she encountered a Tanzanian photographer on Instagram, whose documentary-style work left a profound impression.

"His work was beyond beautiful. I kept on wishing I could freeze moments and make them look exactly the way he did. This went on until one day, I came across pictures of hair pins of different colours taken by the same photographer, and I challenged myself to take the same kind of pictures," she narrates.

Vanessa embarked on her photographic journey with limited resources.

Armed with her mother's iPad, she began capturing images of everyday objects, particularly hairpins.

Her fascination with photography was further ignited when she stumbled upon the work of Amin Suwedi, a photographer and filmmaker studying in Turkey.

Amin's unique approach to photography, characterised by storytelling through images and mastery of light and shadow, captivated Vanessa. She reached out to him on Instagram, forging a mentor-mentee relationship.

"He became my mentor and would give me pointers on how to express myself through the pictures I take," Vanessa notes.

As she was studying how these two were taking their pictures, Vanessa found a hashtag in Neema's post that hinted at the name of the editing application called VSCO.

She installed the application and found out that to access all of its editing packages, she had to pay for them.

“I had to use the free limited packages because I could not afford to pay for their other packages,” she remembers.

A short while later, VSCO developed an Instagram page for Tanzanian photographers, and they would sometimes repost my pictures after I used their hashtag.

“This gave my work more exposure, and it connected me with more creative photographers in Tanzania," she details.

In 2018, she attended a creative networking event that brought together photographers in Dar es Salaam.

Through one of the connections she made at the event, Vanessa was able to borrow a Nikon camera, and she continued exploring photography.

“Shortly after I got the camera, I got my first paying gig. I took pictures of one of my friends who was selling thrift store clothes. She paid me sh50,000, and it made me so happy that I was finally getting money from doing something I love,” she recalls.

She was at the time drawing inspiration from Afropunk, an organisation based in the United States of America that celebrates black culture and diversity through music, art, and community.

“I connected with Manka, whom I also e-met on Instagram. I asked her to be my muse because her skin shade is beyond beautiful, and I wanted to capture that through my camera. When she agreed, we met at Coco Beach and did the work. I enjoyed editing her pictures, and when I shared them with Manka, she also loved them,” Vanessa details.

One of my goals was to have my work published in different publications; this made me reach out to Afropunk to request publication because my body of artwork aligns with theirs,” she explains.

She had just taken pictures of a model named Manka by Coco Beach, and her goal was to get them published.

She composed her work, wrote a short story and captions for the pictures, and emailed Afropunk, requesting that they publish her work.

One day, as she sat in a daladala heading back, Vanessa’s phone started to buzz nonstop.

When she checked her phone, Afropunk had published her work on their website and on their social media.

Her notification bar almost broke as people kept engaging with her work. This encouraged her more.

“I use my work to portray how black people are naturally alluring without heavy retouches on their skin. I only manipulate colours and shadows around the muse, but I want to celebrate them exactly how they truly are,” she details.

Among her achievements of the years include VSCO editors using one of her photographs for Black History Month on their pages in 2020.

Another achievement is when VSCO editors asked Vanessa to curate bodywork of black photographers who are VSCO community members titled ‘To be Punk and Black-community collects’ for VSCO in the same year, whereas she was also quoted on Teen Vogue.

Her work has also landed in prestigious publications such as Elle Italy and Marie Claire.

She also joined an initiative called The African Photojournalism Database in 2019 and African Women in Photography in 2020. Through these connections, Vanessa has been able to get more documentary work.

Vanessa also captured the pictures and stories of the Tanzanian women who were featured on a report titled ‘Leading Women in Tanzania's Financial Services Sector’ that was launched by the International Financial Corporation (ICF) on June 24, 2021.

“That was an eye-opening project because, through those powerful women I met, I learned time management and how valuable my work is,” she explains.

She further says, “The Corona pandemic was a blessing in disguise for photographers in Tanzania because, for the first time, we were seen. It was the time that showed how local photographers are capable of taking great content like foreign photographers are.

She is now working to establish a production house that will venture into films.

“I do not want to limit myself to only photography when I can do so much more,” Vanessa hints.