Individual Beings Evolving VIII

Individual Beings Evolving VIII

Dimakatso's artistic exploration, Individual Beings Relocated, is fueled by her desire to build a family archive and solidify her family's narravtive. The impetus for this work emerged shortly after her mother's passing, when her grandmother; Dimakatso, then a final-year visual arts student at the University of Johannesburg; began speaking openly about a house.

Through these conversations, Mathopa gradually unearthed their family history, tracing its roots back to Viljoenskroon in the Free State, a South African province dominated by vast tracts of land owned primarily by white Afrikaner families. Their family resided in the township bordering this town.

Dimakatso's late grandfather commanded respect within the community and maintained positive relationships with many white families, despite the oppressive apartheid era. When apartheid ended, one of these close white friends, still addressed as "Baas" (boss) by her grandfather, gifted him a house and the land it stood on.

Following a lawful inheritance, Dimakatso's late grandfather, grandmother, and mother moved into, or perhaps more accurately, occupied, this formerly colonial space. However, as a Black woman inhabiting this space, Dimakatso's late grandmother felt a sense of alienation – ostracized by her own family, the Black community, and the white community that once revered her husband. Living in this environment, her sense of belonging and identity were fundamentally altered.

In Individual Beings Relocated, Dimakatso reimagines herself within this inherited household, embodying the experience of her late grandmother. Her exploration utilizes monotypes, a printmaking technique involving drawing or painting on a plate before transferring the image to paper, along with the acetate medium.