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Nthabiseng in her studio in France during the Makwande Art Residency
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Nthabiseng in her studio in France during the Makwande Art Residency
Nthabiseng Boledi Kekana South African, b. 1999
Self IV, 2023
Charcoal on canvas
61 cm x 51 cm
Series: Di thapelo tsa Barapedi
Signed and dated 2023 verso
copyright all to the artist
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Self. ‘I was the muse behind these works. I was working hard and giving every waking minute to my work. With limited time and a tight schedule for research, I was feeling rather overwhelmed despite support from Nomaza and my mother. I stopped creating and deciding to feel what I was feeling. I took pictures of myself in these raw poses and emotions, I didn’t try to dim down what I was feeling at the time.’
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.