Description

Thero Makepe was one of the finalists in 2020 in the Blurring the Lines talent program with his project Music from My Good Eye. He graduated from the University of Cape Town South Africa.

His grandfather, Hippolytus Mothopeng, was a jazz musician performing in the 1960s and 1970s in Botswana after going into exile to escape apartheid South Africa in 1958. Significantly, by the time Thero was born in 1996, his grandfather had gone blind and he never physically saw him, but they shared a strong bond until he passed away in 2012. One of his grandfather’s dying wishes, was for one of his offspring to become a musician, which unfortunately never came to fruition. However, in Thero’s practice, he has aimed to create a sort of visual album in the form of a book for his grandfather and his maternal family. Music from My Good Eye is a body of work that addresses the history of musicality and activism in his family lineage. More than that, it is a visual and spiritual conversation between himself and his ancestors that communicates gratitude and empathy. Using various photographic languages, Thero has attempted to construct a non-linear narrative that shows his maternal family’s lasting kindredship despite all the effects of politics, resistance, history, migration, loss, and separation they have endured for over more than half a century.

In the informal setting at the FOTODOK office we will talk with him about his latests projects and his development as a photographer.

This is an event on invitation but we have 10 tickets (for €4,-) available for those who would love to join.

Beeld: Thero Makepe, Music from My Good Eye, 2019.