Larissa Jane Photography 2010
We all give and receive labels in some form or another – “the Doctor”, “the Academic”, “the Snob”...the list is endless. But under these labels, who are we and how much effort does it take to rise up from under these titles, emerge at the surface and simply be?
In the past two years, I have begun to get a sense of who I really am and to be comfortable just being me and not feed into the titles/labels society gives me and expects me to live out. It began as a journey of self-discovery triggered by a series of events – I feel as though I’m steadily climbing up a rocky steep (sometimes with heels on!), but I can see the flat surface just up above.
I have been given many labels. Because I travelled alot from a young age, in the countries I’ve lived in, I’ve been “the African Girl”, “the African Model”, “the Lawyer”. Furthermore, in Zimbabwe or amongst Africans abroad, I have sometimes found myself inadvertently defending statements, (based on my 'labels'), that I’m a snob, or that I can’t really connect with my home country/continent because I haven’t lived in Zimbabwe for the past number of years or because I made a grammatical error in Shona. I wonder what qualifies one to connect with their home country? What is to connect? Is it limited by when, how long you lived there, whether you can speak the language, whether you can recite your family history...? For me, it's simple: connecting with my home is the sense of unity I feel when I am in Zimbabwe interacting with the environment, the people, my family & friends, the peace I feel when I'm there that I cannot get from being anywhere else in the world.
Then there is the label, “Model”. People may automatically dismiss you as someone who is not brainy, a timewaster, someone who doesn’t see modelling as an avenue to other and/or arguably greater things, coupled with the fact that men may sometimes objectify you. The latter has rung true for me and been magnified in a society where there is a minority of black women and the black woman is sometimes objectified by men as an “exotic creature”.
Then there is the label, “Writer”. Amidst comments such as, “oh..you and your writing ‘stuff’ ”, all I can say is I don’t identify with these labels in so much as they are just titles. All I know is that I am just being me, I feel so much more than the labels. My desires lie in expressing myself creatively because that is the most comfortable way for me to be me. I also have so many other desires, for example, wanting to see change in the world in terms of breaking barriers, encouraging, inspiring people, giving hope to those who are ready to give up and using my passions to try and effect these desired results.
And to those who are afraid to break out of themselves I say, I am far from perfect, but isn't the world overwhelmed with people doing and feeling the things they don't enjoy...there is nothing more fulfilling than turning from a caterpillar into a butterfly.
Visit my site at:
www.teurai.com
In the past two years, I have begun to get a sense of who I really am and to be comfortable just being me and not feed into the titles/labels society gives me and expects me to live out. It began as a journey of self-discovery triggered by a series of events – I feel as though I’m steadily climbing up a rocky steep (sometimes with heels on!), but I can see the flat surface just up above.
I have been given many labels. Because I travelled alot from a young age, in the countries I’ve lived in, I’ve been “the African Girl”, “the African Model”, “the Lawyer”. Furthermore, in Zimbabwe or amongst Africans abroad, I have sometimes found myself inadvertently defending statements, (based on my 'labels'), that I’m a snob, or that I can’t really connect with my home country/continent because I haven’t lived in Zimbabwe for the past number of years or because I made a grammatical error in Shona. I wonder what qualifies one to connect with their home country? What is to connect? Is it limited by when, how long you lived there, whether you can speak the language, whether you can recite your family history...? For me, it's simple: connecting with my home is the sense of unity I feel when I am in Zimbabwe interacting with the environment, the people, my family & friends, the peace I feel when I'm there that I cannot get from being anywhere else in the world.
Then there is the label, “Model”. People may automatically dismiss you as someone who is not brainy, a timewaster, someone who doesn’t see modelling as an avenue to other and/or arguably greater things, coupled with the fact that men may sometimes objectify you. The latter has rung true for me and been magnified in a society where there is a minority of black women and the black woman is sometimes objectified by men as an “exotic creature”.
Then there is the label, “Writer”. Amidst comments such as, “oh..you and your writing ‘stuff’ ”, all I can say is I don’t identify with these labels in so much as they are just titles. All I know is that I am just being me, I feel so much more than the labels. My desires lie in expressing myself creatively because that is the most comfortable way for me to be me. I also have so many other desires, for example, wanting to see change in the world in terms of breaking barriers, encouraging, inspiring people, giving hope to those who are ready to give up and using my passions to try and effect these desired results.
And to those who are afraid to break out of themselves I say, I am far from perfect, but isn't the world overwhelmed with people doing and feeling the things they don't enjoy...there is nothing more fulfilling than turning from a caterpillar into a butterfly.
Visit my site at:
www.teurai.com
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