Self Portraits by Asteria Malinzi

Bio

I am a fine art and documentary photographer living and working in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Born in Singida, Tanzania in 1991, my practice is rooted in analogue techniques and conceptual storytelling, and I use the camera as both a creative and psychological tool.

At the heart of my work is a sustained inquiry into memory, identity, and transformation. I return repeatedly to self-portraiture, not out of vanity, but as a method: I place myself in the frame as subject and conduit, working through states of grief, resistance, and becoming. The ocean, found objects, and staged environments become the vocabulary through which these inner landscapes take shape. Film, most often 35mm, is a deliberate choice. The slowness it demands keeps me honest.

Much of my practice engages with historical trauma, particularly the enduring legacy of the transatlantic slave trade and how it continues to shape contemporary African identity and the Black body. I am interested in what is carried forward, what is buried, and what can be reclaimed through image-making.

Alongside my photographic practice, I am deeply committed to building and sustaining creative communities. I co-founded the Artists Residency of Kigamboni (ARK) along the Tanzanian coastline, a space dedicated to artistic exchange and collective inquiry. My curatorial work centres decolonial and feminist perspectives, and I find the two practices, making and curating, feed each other constantly.