Thero Makepe Quotes
born 1996 Botswana
Thero Makepe (born 1996) is a Motswana multimedia artist.
Random Thero Makepe quote
27 quotes
I hope my photography and visual archival material encourages people to pause, remember, imagine and look deeply
We live in a divided world, but we still have to believe things will get better — because we are all we have
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?
I think it’s important for us to contextualise who we are and how we came to be.
In my lifetime there’s never been a more hopeless time when it comes to what you can get from politicians
I would have no idea of them at all; it’s not a history that is widely known, never mind commemorated in Botswana
I feel a sense of responsibility to accurately represent the African socialist and Pan-African politics my family was involved in
Documentary photography serves the purpose of me retracing the steps of different members of my family to document the different places they have existed
The personal is political, and the political is personal. None of us exist outside history
I firmly believe that the personal is collective and the collective is personal. That is to say, no individual exists in isolation
I wanted to photograph a feeling before it hardened into history
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
I don’t see photography as freezing a moment. I see it as opening a conversation that time hasn’t finished yet
I am someone who's always known what I wanted to do
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 work together because we respect each other’s voices — not because we want to sound the same
When I was younger, still in my early years of university, I had a narrow- minded view of what activism is
Growing up in Gaborone taught me slowness. That slowness shaped how I remember, how I see, and how I photograph
Cape Town is where I received my political education. It forced me out of the bubble I didn’t know I was living in
Living in Botswana keeps my ego in check. I can breathe here