Thero Makepe (b. 1996, Botswana) is a multimedia artist born and raised in Gabarone, Botswana. Living and working between Gabarone, Cape Town and Johannesburg, Makepe completed his Bachelor of Fine Art with distinction at the University of Cape Town, majoring in photography.
Makepe, currently focused on photography, employs the moving image as an aesthetic vehicle through which he examines familial, social and geopolitical histories. Within this framework, Makepe engages historic events to explore the liminal spaces between collective and personal memory, foregrounded by his own lyrical and spiritual sensibilities.
In 2023, the artist was the recipient of the MEP residency – Gervanne Collection + Matthias Leridon – Cité internationale des arts (Paris, France). In 2022, Makepe was selected for the Invisible Borders Trans-African Road Trip: Whispers of the Wilderness, which took place in the Okavango Delta, Botswana, Angola and Namibia. In 2020, Makepe was awarded the Diane and Charles Frankel Fellowship (USA, South Africa) and was selected as a finalist for Blurring the Lines at Paris College of Art (France).
In 2019, the artist was awarded the Tierney Followship. In the same year, Makepe co-founded The Botswana Pavillion, which is dedicated to developing Botswana’s artistic archive, making it a prominent force in the international art space. In 2021, Hans Ulricht Obrist and András Szántó commissioned The Botswana Pavillion as a part of the Unfinished Camp project.
Come What May, 2022
We Didn't Choose to be Born Here
Come What May, 2022 | We Didn't |
We Didn't
Choose to be
Born Here
This selection of photographs is taken from Makepe’s upcoming photobook We Didn't Choose to be Born Here, which explores the complex history of his family lineage between South Africa and Botswana during the eras of Apartheidand the more recent #FeesMustFall protests.
Come What May, 2022
Kgomo Tsaka Deile, 2019
Makepe’s style of work is reminiscent of award-winning South African photographer Lebohang Kganye, who he revealed acts as inspiration within his own. — Taahirah Martin, Design Indaba
Under Surveillance, 2021
Robben Island University, 2020
The Morning of Ruins, 2020
Music from my Good Eye
Kgomo Tsaka Deile Kae VII, 2019
Kgomo Tsaka Deile IV, 2019 Kae
Merapelo II (Anglican Holy Cathedral Gabarone), 2019
One of my grandfather’s dying wishes was for one of his offspring to become a musician, which unfortunately never came to fruition.
Monna Wa Mmino, 2019
Kgomo Tsaka Deile IV, 2019 Kae
Merapelo II (Anglican Holy Cathedral Gabarone), 2019
One of my grandfather’s dying wishes was for one of his offspring to become a musician, which unfortunately never came to fruition.
Monna Wa Mmino, 2019
Re A Hlopela (Tombstone Unveiling), 2019, 800.00 USD ex. VAT
Fly Machine/Mogaka
Fly Machine/Mogaka. as a body of work, is an act and product of memorialisation. The photo book memorialises the life of Botswana Defence Force pilot Major Cliff Manyuni, who bravely steered his stricken fighter jet away from Gabarone and saving many lives in the process, at the sacrifice of his own. In this body of work, Makepe aimed to explore the grey area between collective and personal memory as well as reality and imagination. In making this English and Setswana book, Makepe aims to slow down time and make space for the contemplation of a man who put first the greater good of his people.
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Artist CV
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Forthcoming We Didn’t Choose to be Born Here, pending publication
2019 Music from My Good Eye, self-published
2018 Fly Machine/Mogaka, self-published
Catalogues
2022 Attached to the Soil (in collaboration with Peter Glendinning), Michigan State University Press, p. 18
2020 Blurring the Lines: 2020, Urbanautica, p.p 126 - 131
2019 Michaelis School of Fine Art Graduate Catalogue 2019, Michaelis School of Fine Art, p.p 108 - 111
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 Good Neighbours, NIROX Sculpture Park, Johannesburg
2022 Attached to the Soil, University of Pretoria, Pretoria
2022 The Botswana Pavilion: Maš(w)i a Ditoro (tsa Rona), Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt
2022 Unfinished Camp@Pivô, Pivô, São Paulo
2021 Joe Prussian presents PREMISE, The Box (Old Atterbury St.), Cape Town
2021 Unfinished Camp (with the Botswana Pavilion), The Shed, New York City, New York & Art Basel, Basel
2020 The Botswana Pavilion - Collective Ties, Virtual Exhibition
2020 CONTESTED SPACE | WATER IS LAND IS AIR, Virtual Exhibition for Latitudes Art Fair
2020 a_part: Quarantine Collaboration, Virtual Exhibition
2019 Michaelis Gradshow, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town
2019 The Botswana Pavilion - Subjective Nationhood, Botswana National Gallery, Gaborone
2019 The Room, BG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
2019 The Botswana Pavilion – No Return, Gallery Momo, Cape Town
2019 Hue and Hue – group pop up exhibition, Monolith Studios, 140 Canterbury St., Cape Town
INTERVIEWS
2019 Art Meets | The Botswana Pavilion: No Return (2019), Art Meets TV
GRANTS AND AWARDS
2022 The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust (South Africa)
2020 The Diane and Charles Frankel Fellowship (United States of America and South Africa)
Blurring the Lines, Paris College of Art, (Finalist) [France]
ANT Mobility Grant, Pro Helvetia (received with the Botswana Pavilion) [Switzerland]
2019 The Simon Gerson Prize, Michaelis School of Fine Art (South Africa)
The Tierney Fellowship Award, Michaelis School of Fine Art (South Africa)
2018 Materials Bursary, Michaelis School of Fine Art (South Africa)
LECTURES AND SMALL TALKS
2022 Blurring the Lines - Narrative and Storytelling, Online Webinar, April 28 2022
The Botswana Pavilion: Maš(w)i a Ditoro (tsa Rona) Walkabout and Discussion, Sakhile&Me
2022 Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany and Artist Residency Centre, Gaborone, Botswana, Online and In-
Person Panel Discussion
Art Kgotla: Hosted by The Botswana Pavilion, Maru-A-Pula Secondary School, Gaborone,
2022 Botswana, Online and In-Person Panel Discussion
2022 Michaelis School of Fine Art, Online Artist Talk
2022 Memory, Family & Narrative – Global Photographies Network, Online Webinar
2021 Unfinished Camp - Unfinished Live, The Shed, New York City, New York, In-Person Panel Discussion
2021 Unfinished Camp Panel Discussion - Zeitz MOCAA, Online Panel Discussion
2021 Michaelis School of Fine Art, Online Artist Talk
2020 Blurring the Lines 2020 - The Boundary Between Professional and Personal Work, Online Webinar
RESIDENCIES
2023 The MEP residency – Gervanne Collection + Matthias Leridon – Cité internationale des arts
2022 Invisible Borders Trans-African Road Trip: Whispers of the Wilderness, Okavango Delta, Botswana, Angola and Namibia
Further Reading In Articles
African Artist Directory