Zoha Van de aarde is this week’s “Femme Voices” feature interview. They are a photographer whose art is both provocative and beautiful. Zoha primarily photographs women of color, as they believe they deserve more representation, especially in a light that showcases who they are and not how the outside world perceives them to be. A creative at heart, Zoha constructs their shoots from concept to completion and enjoys collaborating with their subjects on different themes. In this way, they endeavor to inspire those who view their art and those involved in helping create it.

Read more about this gifted photographer below the break!

Please introduce yourself. What is your name? Where are you located? What are your pronouns and how do you identify? 

Hi, my name is Zoha Van de aarde. I am Non-Binary and my pronouns are They/Them. I’d like to say I’m an artist or creative with no favourite form of expressing myself but I have become known as a photographer because of me showcasing my work on Instagram and various other platforms.

I am from Botswana, so I’m a Motswana and do my work both in Botswana and South Africa.

On your Instagram page, you call yourself “occasionally a creative and expressionist”. One of the ways you express yourself is through your photography. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Is there anything else that you do? 

Not too many know this but on the second of January this year, my account @vandeaarde was deleted*. I’m not one who allows themselves to be consumed by social media and such but it was upsetting because it was all my work, literally from when I started four years ago. I have since created a new account @vandeaardezoha.

I spend most of my days thinking up and trying to conceptualise on as many different ideas as I can and it’s not all ideas I want to execute through photography. I occasionally paint and draw and write. But I’m not a professional at any of these, I just do whatever I can to express myself and to put my ideas out there in hope that they will help and benefit others.

* Zoha’s original page has since been restored.

Your photography shows women in a very authentic light even as they are in somewhat abstract and whimsical themes. Where do you get your inspiration?

I’ve never been sure how to answer when I’ve been asked where I get my inspiration from because truly it’s everywhere, whether it’s from everyday moments that would look beautiful if captured or from other photographers or things like sculptures or movies. I try and gain my inspiration from wherever I can.

I feel like a picture is more than just that so I sometimes want to take a picture for the sake of it being a story on its own. But I also try and have an overall theme in my work and that’s honestly just to make sure that women should be respected and that women should be allowed to be themselves, whether we agree with it or not. It’s not your problem what others do with their time or their bodies.

But it’s also not just about women, it’s also respecting each other, whatever race or gender, everyone should be treated as fairly as they deserve. This is a big reason why I do what I do. I am looking to make myself feel better by expressing myself as fully as possible but I am also looking to do that for others, using the work I create.

In all honesty, though, I can’t always remember where my ideas were born and I don’t always have a trail of breadcrumbs to show me the road back to the beginning of the idea. Most times, it’s just something that pops into my head, other times I’ll come up with, for example, a scene in a kitchen and I’ll want a certain kind of lighting and will know where my muse will be standing or sitting, but I won’t know what I’ll want them to be doing.

So over time, I’ll add and remove things, but all this is done in my head btw, and it could take weeks or months. But eventually, I’ll either complete it because I’ll have the image fully completed in my head or I’ll find the person who makes me feel that the idea is complete enough already and if it’s not then they complete it.

What is your favorite method of self-care?

Well, I don’t know if what I’m about to explain is a specific method of self-care but I also feel like there are no specific methods and it’s all person-specific. But my favourite is being alone, watching a series or listening to music, while having wine or something, but at a steady pace, and all this topped off with painting or drawing. This usually lasts hours and hours, so I make sure I can go a whole day or more, if possible. I get at least 3 litres of wine, I find a series that has multiple seasons or I find multiple series, and I just find whatever I’ve been itching to paint or figure it out as time passes.

What are you most proud of about yourself and what you have accomplished?

Well, I don’t know if I’ve really accomplished anything yet but I’m proud of the fact that I’ve carried on and that I’ve done as much as I can. I want to do more to help inspire and do for others. I enjoy the work I do so much and the fact that some of these ideas are completely mine while others are taken from other people’s work. But it’s not about me getting the credit, it’s about people looking at this work and seeing that there is something to relate to, there is something to feel in this image, there is something more and that it opens them up to ideas and ways of thinking that they didn’t always consider.

 Do you have any upcoming projects or goals?

One project I have already started showing is The Divine Feminine project, which I started kind of accidentally. The first image was all spur of the moment, but then I took another, then I wanted to take another and it just kept on going. At the moment, I am working on a few more images of the same light and will post them soon and finish off the series. In the end, I will be hoping to gain enough interest in the images so that I can sell a few prints of them.

I also have a Patreon, where I will showcasing a new project named “details”, which will entail different types of shots of a nude anonymous model or models. They will mostly be close-ups and such but also some that are full-body, while still hiding the face or anything that would give away their identity. I will be posting more about this in the next few weeks.

How can we see your work/contact you/etc.?

The best place to see my work is on my Instagram page, which is where all my work from the very first image I ever took is. That’s where I post a majority of my work so if you want to keep up with it that’s the best source. There is a link on my Instagram that will send you to a page with all my other social media, including Tumblr, my website, Twitter, and Facebook.