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Inside/Out with Kate Raath, Zimbabwean artist
Kubatana.net
April 08, 2010

Read full interview with Kate Raath

Describe yourself in five words?
Short, overweight, sixty and permanently optimistic.

What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Your house is your pension, use it. In the last fifteen years, which have been difficult, that was the best advice I could have gotten. You've got to look at what you've got in life.

What's the most ridiculous thing you've ever done?
Being an artist, because it doesn't pay the bills.

What is your most treasured possession?
I'm not a materialist. I'd like to say my motorcar because it's given me a lot of freedom. But also my children and my grandson.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
I suppose losing your children.

Do you have any strange hobbies?
I've got lots of hobbies. I'm redoing my degree myself. I'm retyping all my hand written notes on a manual typewriter. I'm loving it. It's kept me sane.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
I'm short and fat.

What is your greatest extravagance?
I haven't got any.

What have you got in your fridge?
Left over ham, blue cheese, half another bit of cheese, some milk, a lettuce, six eggs and there's a bit of baby food in there at the moment.

What is your greatest fear?
Losing a family member, having an accident, the way people drive is scary.

What have you got in your pockets right now?
Nothing.

What is your favourite journey?
I love travelling locally. I love travelling between Masvingo and Zvishavane. I love the road to Victoria Falls. Because I'm into landscape, any road is good for me. Unfortunately I now drive so I can't do too much looking. I'm saddened by the deforestation.

Who are your heroes in real life?
My mum and dad, and my children.

When and where were you happiest?
I've been happy all along.

What's your biggest vice?
It was smoking. I was a shocking smoker. I stopped that nine years ago. I was sick, with bronchitis.

What were you like at school?
I loved the subjects that I was good at. I wasn't heavy into sport. I liked sport, but I wasn't into team sports.

What are you doing next?
I'm trying to find a new landscape to paint. I'm headed in a new direction. One of the reasons I'm redoing my degree is to refocus my head. And I keep hoping that Zimbabwe will come right.

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