FORMAT25: Conflicted: Thero Makepe: We didn鈥檛 choose to be born here
Thero Makepe is the British Journal of Photography Award Winner for FORMAT25.
The body of work is an exploration of Botswana and South Africa鈥檚 socio-political fabric through a personal lens. Blending staged portraiture, documentary images and re-enactments, Makepe weave鈥檚 personal family stories with national history. The images are part of a photobook that addresses the history of musicality and activism within Makepe鈥檚 family lineage.
Makepe鈥檚 project focuses on the dilemma of personal responsibility in times of crisis. 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? Furthermore, how does one deal with the reality of the world and personal circumstances they were born into? How does one鈥檚 social class influence their ideology and aspirations? Makepe uses his family as a conduit to unpack these questions in his book project.
Makepe鈥檚 work is collaborative with his family as they share their experiences, stories and memories, and he then interprets them as an artist. Makepe retraces their steps and produces documentary or post-documentary photographs of the places they have been or creates staged re-enactments where different family members, including himself, perform as past family members. Therefore, his family always has a heavy hand in curating themselves as they are photographed and what archival material is left out of this project.
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Thero Makepe is the British Journal of Photography Award Winner for FORMAT25.
The body of work is an exploration of Botswana and South Africa鈥檚 socio-political fabric through a personal lens. Blending staged portraiture, documentary images and re-enactments, Makepe weave鈥檚 personal family stories with national history. The images are part of a photobook that addresses the history of musicality and activism within Makepe鈥檚 family lineage.
Makepe鈥檚 project focuses on the dilemma of personal responsibility in times of crisis. 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? Furthermore, how does one deal with the reality of the world and personal circumstances they were born into? How does one鈥檚 social class influence their ideology and aspirations? Makepe uses his family as a conduit to unpack these questions in his book project.
Makepe鈥檚 work is collaborative with his family as they share their experiences, stories and memories, and he then interprets them as an artist. Makepe retraces their steps and produces documentary or post-documentary photographs of the places they have been or creates staged re-enactments where different family members, including himself, perform as past family members. Therefore, his family always has a heavy hand in curating themselves as they are photographed and what archival material is left out of this project.
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