A sequence about household historical past and the diverging paths of life by lens-based artist Thero Makepe. Born and raised in Gaborone, Botswana, Makepe lives and works between Gaborone, Cape City, and Johannesburg. His work examines familial, social, and geopolitical histories in South Africa and Botswana. Drawing on archival materials (each private and non-private), Makepe explores the house between collective and private reminiscence, paying explicit consideration to his personal maternal lineage.
Makepe’s grandfather, Hippolytus Mothopeng, fled South Africa in 1958 to flee racist apartheid legislation. On the time Botswana was a much more peaceable nation beneath British safety. Hippolytus was in a position to work as a city clerk and a hobbyist jazz musician. Hippolytus’s uncle, Zephaniah Mothopeng, stayed in South Africa, changing into an activist and ultimately the president of the Pan-African Congress of Azania (PAC). As a distinguished chief, Zephania served two separate jail sentences on Robben Island.
Whereas making near-opposite selections (to develop into a civilian vs a insurgent), on June 14th 1985 the South African Defence Pressure (SADF) crossed into Botswana with the intention of exterminating South African exiles. Makepe’s grandparents survived the assault however the occasions of that day remained vivid of their minds. In “We Didn’t Select to be Born Right here,” Makepe recreates this and different moments — bringing collectively household images and reenacted portraits as a method of grappling with the discrepancies inside his household. Finally, Makepe celebrates the lasting kinship of his maternal household regardless of the consequences of politics, resistance, historical past, migration, loss and separation they endured. See extra from “We Didn’t Select to be Born Right here” beneath!