GRIOTS REPUBLIC - AN URBAN BLACK TRAVEL MAG - OCTOBER 2016

pinched and her children’s hair being very
closely photographed. She said the attention
was at first amusing and then became
annoying very quickly. “We couldn’t concentrate
on tours because of all the cameras
pointed at us. We couldn’t walk quickly
due to the crowds swarming us. We were
grumpy. What we looked like was ruining
our chance to enjoy where we were.”
Despite the uncouth interactions, Chakauya
shared that his time in the east greatly informed
his approach to design. “I got a
chance to experience the food, the culture,
the people… all of those things play into
my aesthetic. The name Butsu itself is a
reflection of my experience in the east.”
Butsu, a derivative of the word butsudan,
means Buddhist altar or shrine in Japanese.
In his own mother tongue - Shona, it
simply means shoe. For him, Butsu serves
a dual purpose. “I see my body of work as
a gift to the world but at the same time I’m
honoring all the people that came before
me by doing something of significance
with my life,” he said. “It plays on the two
things. It’s my legacy.”
The shrine, which has it roots in nearly every
ancient belief system on the planet, is
significant to Chakauya for other reasons
as well.
In Africa, the infamous exercise of coloni-