Thero Makepe

Thero Makepe (born 1996) is a Motswana multimedia artist. Quotes I firmly believe that the personal is collective and the collective is personal. That is to say, no individual exists in isolation My family’s lives and their migration from one place to another were forced by broader structural forces. I can’t tell the story of their lives and choices without telling the story of white settler colonialism in Southern Africa Documentary photography serves the purpose of me retracing the steps of different members of my family to document the different places they have existed I’ve always been interested in history and, by extension, narrative I’ve always viewed myself as an African and a Motswana (citizen) second since I was young. I was implicitly raised that way by both of my parents. Learning deeply about Pan-Africanism and Black Consciousness for this project further entrenched me in those philosophies When I was younger, still in my early years of university, I had a narrow- minded view of what activism is I thought it was only physical protesting and militancy, but a movement like #FeesMustFall taught me that the agenda of revolution is also an intellectual endeavour that has many arms, including cultural production I think it’s important for us to contextualise who we are and how we came to be. Speaking strictly for myself, my knowledge of the history of Botswana, especially when it came to activism and cultural resistance, was non-existent before I started university in South Africa. I would have no idea of them at all; it’s not a history that is widely known, never mind commemorated in Botswana I have to say Botswana has a very sterile history of how it achieved its independence. Objectively, it is so: there was no violent revolution necessary to end political colonialism. But the issue then becomes that the history we focus on begins in 1966 or just a few decades before that we have to really investigate our shared lineages to understand why and how the settler colonial projects in South Africa and Zimbabwe were different from Botswana, Zambia or Namibia we have to always mourn the sacrifices our ancestors made but also commemorate and learn from them to aid us towards a better future Botswana turns 60 years old this year in the midst of economic crises with the decline of diamond sales and high youth unemployment I think we need to look to the past and lesser-known histories in search of some solutions – at the very least to help us analyse the problems I hope my photography and visual archival material encourages people to pause, remember, imagine and look deeply Thero Makepe: The Histories We Inherit 5 August 2026 I don’t see photography as freezing a moment. I see it as opening a conversation that time hasn’t finished yet Growing up in Gaborone taught me slowness. That slowness shaped how I remember, how I see, and how I photograph Johannesburg was the first place where I understood that black joy and black pain could exist side by side Cape Town is where I received my political education. It forced me out of the bubble I didn’t know I was living in The personal is political, and the political is personal. None of us exist outside history I wanted to photograph a feeling before it hardened into history We work together because we respect each other’s voices — not because we want to sound the same Living in Botswana keeps my ego in check. I can breathe here We live in a divided world, but we still have to believe things will get better — because we are all we have We Didn’t Choose to Be Born Here”: Thero Makepe on Memory, Migration, and the Politics of Seeing 29 December 2025 In my lifetime there’s never been a more hopeless time when it comes to what you can get from politicians There’s always been some sort of symbol of hope. It started with Nelson Mandela, and then, by the time I was a teenager, came Barack Obama. And then, you know, from my late teens to early twenties, there hasn’t ever really been a hero or icon figure like that. So when I listened to a song by rapper billy woods, whose father was part of the Pan-African struggle in Zimbabwe, ‘It’s not going to get better,’ I was like, Yeah, that’s it. There’s a sense of grounding in not pretending Illuminating the Shared History Between South Africa and Botswana 16 January 2026 I am someone who's always known what I wanted to do You can actually make art about death – about something that's beyond yourself but is also an event or moment that lives in the memories of so many other people I feel a sense of responsibility to accurately represent the African socialist and Pan-African politics my family was involved in We're Still Here: Thero Makepe’s Visual Jazz 21 January 2026 I use photography to creatively express myself as a basic need for my soul, to shed light on lesser-known narratives and to query the status quo My choice in subject matter comes from the specific moment or era I am in my life. I choose projects that I can only do at specific moments in my life I hope that my work provokes people to consider their humanity more. I hope it can provide some form of healing for my immediate communities in Southern Africa thero makepe n.d As an individual, do you fight for something greater for yourself in a collective struggle, or do you try to achieve the best for yourself? Because I had a privileged and sheltered upbringing in a small town, I had no incentive growing up to be involved in politics, activism, or to concern myself with goals outside of my own until I encountered a protester wearing a screenprinted t-shirt of my great-uncle Zephania Mothopeng during #FeesMustFall protests 2016 at the University of Cape Town. Amid the chaos and turmoil my family was experiencing, music was an anchor and provided an escape However, despite the unrest, state imprisonment, identity crises and psychological trauma that my family endured for over half a century, my book ends on a note of hope and resilience We Didn't Choose To Be Born Here Category:People from Botswana Category:Artists Category:Living people