Khehla Chepape Makgato
Khehla Chepape Makgato, Re-visiting the 'Tale' of the 19th century African Queen of Batlokwa - Manthatisi Monyalue Mokotjo , 2022, installation views
Re-visiting the 'Tale' of the 19th century African Queen of Batlokwa - Manthatisi Monyalue Mokotjo
in partial fulfilment of a Master of Arts in Fine Arts
17 - 25 March 2022
This artistic research is an intervention into the imagination of the life and times – political life – of Queen Manthatisi Monyalue Mosanyane Mokotjo (henceforth, Queen Manthatisi) (1784 -1847). She was the leader of Batlokwa people of South Africa during the 19th Century. I engaged the existing archive, to interrogate the narrative as Queen Manthatisi’s imaginary great grandson. I will did by studying the migration or movement of Batlokwa ba Manthatisi people from Nkwe to Butha-Buthe, territory of Moshoeshoe and then to Vaal River under the chieftaincy of Queen Manthatisi spanning a decade between 1813 and 1824 in Harrismith district of the modern day Free State.
Photography by Reshma Chhiba