Author Pia Findlay
smond Tshuma was born and raised in Zimbabwe. After moving to various towns in his early childhood, his family settled in Harare. He remembers always being exposed to creative fields, whether it was through a children’s TV show teaching him how to use charcoal, watching and helping his mother tailor clothing, or using his father’s office pads to draw on. His artistic spirit was strongly stimulated by his family who sent him to screen printing classes and encouraged him to join an art school in high school. This was not a common attitude towards the arts in his community and many questioned why he aimed to take such a career route. Nevertheless, Osmond advanced into a Graphic Design school where he was head- hunted as one of the top students to join a graphic design company. While working in the graphic design industry Osmond became increasingly aware of the design outputs within South Africa. With the perception of this country’s rank in the design industry, as well as its allowance for more creative freedom, he continued on his road to graphic genius by applying to study Graphic Design at the University of Johannesburg. Osmond travelled from Zimbabwe to South Africa alone on a bus in 2009, just after the wave of xenophobic attacks in 2008 - an intimidating journey. He arrived in Park Station in the middle of a rainy night, where he phoned his aunt, his only connection in Johannesburg, to pick him up. Although everything seemed daunting and unfamiliar, he remembers thinking “there is so much life” – a sign of opportunity.
ALUMNI IMPUMELELO
6
ALUMNI IMPUMELELO 52
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker