The below article explores the concept of flooding the archive as a critical curatorial strategy, with a  focus on its application in Botswana and the work that propelled the formation of Ora Loapi in 2019.

By Lerato Motshwarakgole, Founder and Director 

Drawing on postcolonial theory, critical archival studies, and feminist epistemology, I hope to  position flooding the archive as a method of blending colonial and state-sanctioned narratives by  introducing abundance, speculative presence, and multiplicity through exhibition making and the  various programs we have at Ora Loapi. In the Botswana context — where archival practices  have historically privileged state narratives and textual documentation — this approach becomes  particularly urgent. Through an analysis of Botswana’s oral traditions, under-documented social  histories, and emerging contemporary cultural forms, Ora Loapi proposes curatorial  methodologies that flood the archive with oral, digital, affective, and ephemeral materials, offering a more plural and dynamic vision of national memory.  

Historical Considerations  

Botswana’s archives have long been shaped by colonial legacies, missionary documentation, and  post-independence state-building narratives. While these archives have provided valuable  historical records, they have also somewhat silenced many voices: those of women, queer  communities, migrant laborers, informal economies, and youth subcultures. The concept of  flooding the archive, emerging from global curatorial discourses, offers a means to address these  exclusions by contributing to the archive documentation that amplify perspective , multiplicity,  speculative reconstructions, and saturation with the hope of inserting a specific jurisdiction into  the contemporary African art zeitgeist. This article investigates the foundations of flooding the archive and proposes how this approach can be mobilized in Botswana’s foundational cultural  institutions and curatorial practices.  

Foundations of Flooding the Archive: Postcolonial and Decolonial Critiques  

As Achille Mbembe (2002) and Carolyn Hamilton (2002) argue, archives are instruments of  power. In Botswana, colonial archives privileged external accounts, omitting indigenous  narratives. Flooding the archive, in this context, becomes an act of restitution. I first encountered  an extensive archive of my people’s history whilst studying and subsequently working at  Harvard University in pursuit of my Masters. I was then a Teaching Fellow in the Arts in  Education program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Derek Bok Media  Fellow at the Derek Bok Centre for Teaching and Learning. It was during this period that I was  exposed to broader historical narrative through the Benin Bronzes and several other African  artifacts that are in the universities collection. I am currently a board member of the Harvard  Centre for African Studies Leadership Council and part of the integral work I did was in helping  to shape the Harvard African Art Initiative with the Director Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong.  

Critical Fabulation and Speculative Presence  

Saidiya Hartman’s (2008) concept of critical fabulation emphasizes storytelling in the absence of  documentary evidence. For Botswana’s unrecorded histories — from women’s domestic  economies to migrant workers’ oral accounts — curatorial flooding invites speculation and  imaginative reconstruction. One of our most viral post from Ora Loapi was rare video  documentation of women building a dam in pre-independence Botswana. This catapulted the an  array of conversation and uncharted perspectives in Batswana women’s role in nation building  and propelled us at Ora Loapi to continue with this critical pedagogy through the digital world.  

Aga Motse Centre book selection

Media Saturation and Digital Multiplicity  

Wolfgang Ernst’s (2013) work on digital archives shows that saturation is not chaos but  possibility. In Botswana, digital platforms can enable layered, multimedia flooding of the archive  with audio, video, and social media content. Ora Loapi was founded in September 2019. The  Covid pandemic in 2020 with the world on lockdown really helped Ora Loapi propel the digital  multiplicity. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.  

Botswana: Case Studies and Possibilities  

To add on to Ora Loapi’s digital flooding we added on to our program offerings with four core  programs: Agang Program, Amogelang Grant, Fofa Africa Dialogues, curators-in-residence  program and then international art fair exhibitions/participation. Guests such as Nelson Makamo, 

Thonton Kabeya, Zanele Muholi and Victor Ehikhamenor became instrumental in driving the  notion of contextualizing our archive to various theories like Okeke ‘ natural synthesis’ and  more. The Agang (‘to build’ in Setswana) Program flourished through our various policy  advocacy work in making spaces, practices and policies more conducive for artistic practice.  This was highlighted with the formation of the National Arts Council of Botswana in 2021, for  which I serve as Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors. For our curators in residence  program we explore Tishman’s theory of ‘Slow looking’ which saw curators Gabi Ngcobo,  Tammy Langtry, Micheal Stevenson and Puleng Plessie visit Botswana to just, quite literally,  look slowly and leisurely. Various organizations and practitioners have been recipients of our  Amogelang (To ‘recieve’ in Setswana) Grant was borne out of the legacy of my grandmother,  Amogelang Motshwarakgole. Aga Motse Centre, Banana Club and more have been recipient of  the Amogelang Fund in a sincere effort to build community.  

Oral Traditions as Flooding Agents  

The oral archive in Botswana — dithoko, dipina tsa bogosi, and folktales — remains under represented in formal collections. Flooding strategies could involve mass recordings, podcasts,  and multimedia exhibitions capturing regional variations and performance styles.  

Archiving Social Histories and Informal Economies  

The labor histories of Botswana’s mineworkers in South Africa, the informal trade routes  between Botswana and Zimbabwe, and the evolution of street vending are ripe for archival  flooding. Crowdsourced materials and photographic interventions could fill these silences. Sandy  Grant Archive, the Department of Broadcasting Services Archive (through the tireless work of  Felicity Male) and Phillip Segola Archive lead the way in institutionalizing memory through the  collaborations with Ora Loapi.  

Queer Archives and the Politics of Presence  

Post-2019 decriminalization provides an opening for Botswana to flood its archive with queer  stories, visual art, and ephemeral material culture that has been historically invisible. Exhibitions  could feature speculative installations and community-based archival workshops. For two years  Ora Loapi has been collaborating with the Banana Club Artist Fund in the judging process, work  that excites and propels our mandate.  

Aga Motse Centre founded Wame Molefhe

Youth Culture and Popular Archives  

Kwaito, hip-hop, street fashion, and youth political activism are part of Botswana’s  contemporary heritage. Digital flood archives could include social media documentation, artist  zines, and participatory projects with youth cultural producers. The Agang Program invests in  these energies. We recently curated the Kaene Palalani’s exhibition at the national museum. 2019  also saw the flood of formation youth led organizations alongside Ora Loapi like The Banana 

Club, The Space Botswana and the TBP Collective. This is no way coincidental and harkens the  urgency of the action of flooding the archive.  

Challenges and Ethical Considerations  

Flooding the archive also raises concerns:  

• Archival Authority vs. Multiplicity: How do institutions balance saturation with curatorial  clarity?  
• Ethics of Speculation: How far can curators go in imagining histories without risking  distortion?  
• Digital Access and Exclusion: How do we ensure equitable participation in digital flooding,  given rural-urban digital divides?  

Toward a Plural Archive in Botswana  

Flooding the archive offers Botswana a powerful curatorial strategy for rebalancing historical  omissions, embracing multiplicity, and shaping a dynamic, living archive. By overwhelming  colonial and state-centric narratives with abundance — from oral recordings to ephemeral queer  histories — Botswana’s cultural institutions can move toward an archive that is not merely a  repository of the past, but a space for contestation, imagination, and future-making. Through  platforms like Latitudes we look forward to creating world that we want to live in.