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Nthabiseng in her studio at the Makwande Art Residency in Nice
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Nthabiseng in her studio at the Makwande Art Residency in Nice
Nthabiseng Boledi Kekana South African, b. 1999
Pata-Pata, 2023
Oil and oil sticks on canvas
123 cm x 195 cm
Series: Di thapelo tsa Barapedi
Signed and dated 2023 verso
copyright all to the artist
Reserved
Further images
The piece bears its conceptual origins from Martisse’s - The Dance, and Mariam Makeba’s - Pata-Pata. This closing piece pays homage to Kekana's transcontinental influences, the celebratory arch of her residency. The figures, holding space for themselves while holding each other in joy convey the heart of - ‘Pata-pata is the name of a dance we do down in Johannesburg way, everybody starts to move as soon as Pata-pata starts to play.’
I remember the first day I arrived I had said to sis Nomaza that this body of work will be titled ‘Their prayers carry us’/ ‘Their prayers I carry’, because I remember I was in awe of everything that was happening for I Nthabiseng Boledi Ramatsemela Kekana would be where I was ( Nice the South of France). This body of work is an ode to all those who came before me, who sung and prayed for a better life than the one they lived. I am paying homage to my namesake my late great-grandmother Ramatsemela for her spirit lives on within me and this body of work is also a thanksgiving to my mother Stella Kekana the hardest working woman I know and a thanksgiving to the gift of life. It is the prayers of our Grandmothers and Grandfathers that carry us daily. To be the first in my family to experience this opportunity has been a priviledge for it has awoken a lot of dreamers who are to come. Each and every piece that made up this body was a prayer and a thanksgiving. This residency cultivated a new window in my life.