Thero Makepe
N/A, N/A, BW
Thero Makepe (b. 1996, Gaborone, Botswana) is a visual artist whose practice reflects on personal and societal narratives of his upbringing in Botswana and South Africa.
In 2019, the artist completed his Bachelors of Arts degree, majoring in photography, at the Michaelis School of Fine Art (University of Cape Town, South Africa). Makepe’s contributions to the contemporary photographic tradition have since earned numerous prestigious awards and residencies, among them; Prince Claus Seed Award (2024), Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam - FOAM Talent (2024-2025), Contemporary African Photography Prize Shortlist (2024), Der Greif Guest Room Scholarship (2023), MEP – Collection Gervanne + Matthias Leridon Collection - Cité internationale des arts Residency (2023), The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust (2022), Blurring the Lines Finalist (2020), Simon Gerson Prize (2019), The Diane & Charles Frankel Fellowship and the Tierney Fellowship Award (2019).
Solo exhibitions include: We Didn’t Choose to Be Down Here, Lemkus Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (Feb-Apr 2025) and It’s Not Going to Get Better, Vela Projects, Cape Town, South Africa (Dec 2024- Jan 2025). Select group exhibitions include: Grammars: A Group Exhibition, Lemkus Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2024), Process Projected: Tender Photo, What Is Happening Here Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2024), The Purpose is Discourse, Curators’ Kiki, Stevenson, Johannesburg, South Africa (2024), Foam Talent 2024-2025, Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2024), Becoming Visible, Autograph, Online (2024), Yo O Sa Leleng, Botswana National Museum, Gaborone, Botswana (2023), Good Neighbours, NIROX Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, South Africa (2022), The Botswana Pavilion: Maš(w)i a Ditoro (tsa Rona), Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt, Germany (2022), Unfinished Camp (with the Botswana Pavilion), The Shed NY & Art Basel, New York, USA (2021), The Botswana Pavilion - Subjective Nationhood, Botswana National Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana (2019) and The Room, BG Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2019).
Announced exhibitions for 2025 include: a solo presentation at FORMAT25, taking place at the Museum of Making in Derby (UK) from 13 - 30 March 2025. Makepe’s work will be presented alongside the work of the renowned, late photographer, John Blakemore. The artist’s work will also be included in the FOAM Talent group exhibition at the Deutsche Börse Foundation in Frankfurt (Germany) from 28 March - 17 August 2025.
Makepe’s work is in prominent local and international private collections, as well as in the permanent collections of the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Thero Makepe’s work has thus far been published in Courier International (2024), FOAM Magazine #65: Talent (2024), GIIDA Journal Vol. III (2024) and BLURRING THE LINES (2020). He is a founding member of the Botswana Pavillion, an artist collective dedicated to developing Botswana’s artistic archive. The artist currently works between Gaborone, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
In 2019, the artist completed his Bachelors of Arts degree, majoring in photography, at the Michaelis School of Fine Art (University of Cape Town, South Africa). Makepe’s contributions to the contemporary photographic tradition have since earned numerous prestigious awards and residencies, among them; Prince Claus Seed Award (2024), Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam - FOAM Talent (2024-2025), Contemporary African Photography Prize Shortlist (2024), Der Greif Guest Room Scholarship (2023), MEP – Collection Gervanne + Matthias Leridon Collection - Cité internationale des arts Residency (2023), The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust (2022), Blurring the Lines Finalist (2020), Simon Gerson Prize (2019), The Diane & Charles Frankel Fellowship and the Tierney Fellowship Award (2019).
Solo exhibitions include: We Didn’t Choose to Be Down Here, Lemkus Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (Feb-Apr 2025) and It’s Not Going to Get Better, Vela Projects, Cape Town, South Africa (Dec 2024- Jan 2025). Select group exhibitions include: Grammars: A Group Exhibition, Lemkus Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa (2024), Process Projected: Tender Photo, What Is Happening Here Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2024), The Purpose is Discourse, Curators’ Kiki, Stevenson, Johannesburg, South Africa (2024), Foam Talent 2024-2025, Fotografiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2024), Becoming Visible, Autograph, Online (2024), Yo O Sa Leleng, Botswana National Museum, Gaborone, Botswana (2023), Good Neighbours, NIROX Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, South Africa (2022), The Botswana Pavilion: Maš(w)i a Ditoro (tsa Rona), Sakhile&Me, Frankfurt, Germany (2022), Unfinished Camp (with the Botswana Pavilion), The Shed NY & Art Basel, New York, USA (2021), The Botswana Pavilion - Subjective Nationhood, Botswana National Gallery, Gaborone, Botswana (2019) and The Room, BG Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2019).
Announced exhibitions for 2025 include: a solo presentation at FORMAT25, taking place at the Museum of Making in Derby (UK) from 13 - 30 March 2025. Makepe’s work will be presented alongside the work of the renowned, late photographer, John Blakemore. The artist’s work will also be included in the FOAM Talent group exhibition at the Deutsche Börse Foundation in Frankfurt (Germany) from 28 March - 17 August 2025.
Makepe’s work is in prominent local and international private collections, as well as in the permanent collections of the University of Cape Town (South Africa) and the University of Pretoria (South Africa). Thero Makepe’s work has thus far been published in Courier International (2024), FOAM Magazine #65: Talent (2024), GIIDA Journal Vol. III (2024) and BLURRING THE LINES (2020). He is a founding member of the Botswana Pavillion, an artist collective dedicated to developing Botswana’s artistic archive. The artist currently works between Gaborone, Cape Town and Johannesburg.
Artworks
