Cecil John Rhodes: British Empire Hitman

In an interview with Brenda Sisane of KayaFM on The Art of Sunday, Rampolokeng said he writes poetry in order to find himself and “it’s not up to the poet to provide answers, but it is [theirs] to question”.

It is something like a story told about the sculptor, Alberto Giacometti who was once asked about what he wanted to happen to his works when they’d ultimately have to leave the studio. He replied: “bury them in the earth, like that, they may be a bridge between the living and the dead.”

Matter draws out the history of rubber as a precious natural resource and its relationship to the colonial past of the DRC and its afterlives. The works reflect on the violent exploitation of labourers who harvest the material, as well as environmental damage that has occurred as a result.

Eh Joe!/ O kopana le mmane’a hao,/ O botsise ka motswala’ hao,/ O kae Anna?/ Kana o botsisa hore o bjang,/ Ba’o botsa hore o bereka ko Clicks.

With this year being its seventh in the same venue, Vavasati will showcase a broad spectrum of established artists, and little-known works by new and mid-career artists from South Africa, Namibia, and Germany.

I was chatting with a friend about my experiences in primary school of male violence and misogyny. About the emotional, psychological and physical violence endured during my adolescents every day for four years. Then it occurred to me that most of it was because of my weight.