Bio
Charmaine Chitate is a Zimbabwean multimedia creative (photography, videography, film/VR, graphic design, TV) and communications consultant based in Harare, Zimbabwe. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Communication Science with the University of South Africa whilst managing an online media platform for young-adults.

Beginning her artistic career as a member of the Children’s Performing Arts Workshop (CHIPAWO), Chitate went on to be trained by Zimbabwean filmmakers, Marian Kunonga and Ben Mahaka. In her transition into incorporating visual effects into her work, Chitate was mentored by Brighton ‘Bingo’ Tazarurwa. The placement led to her role as assistant editor for the Rumbi Katedza directed television series, ‘The Team’, which was part of a programme funded by Search for Common Ground. The series went on to be nominated for ‘Best Series’ at The Pan-Africa Film Festival of Ougadougou (FEPASCO), in Burkina Faso.

In 2015, Charmaine went on a volunteer programme with Initiatives of Change at Caux Palace in Switzerland.

In the first quarter of 2018, Chitate was part of the ‘Lost and Found: Resilience, Uncertainty, Expectation, Excitement & Hope’ exhibition hosted by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, which later toured to their Bulawayo gallery. Subsequent to that, she was one of two members of the Zimbabwe Association of Female Photographers (ZAFP) to be selected to exhibit at the 2018 FNB Joburg Art Fair. At the Fair, Charmaine was voted in as one of the Top 20 contemporary African artists who have ‘the potential to shape and inspire the global art scene – both now and into the future.’

In 2019, Charmaine’s project, ‘I Am A Woman Defined/Stories About Her’ was shortlisted as one of the Top 6 projects in the Virtual Reality Category – overall, Top 30 across 5 categories by Digital Lab Africa. Through the project, she will access Zimbabwe’s national archives to share stories about Zimbabwe’s most influential women. Chitate has been producing virtual reality and spatial content over two years and has been working on improving her skillset in that regard.

In 2020, Ms. Chitate was selected as one of fifty winners for Africalia’s “Creativity is Life” COVID-19 reliefs grant for artists for the project, “Whispering Silence”.