Banana Club Artist Fund
04.10 - 07.10.2024
“It is not a crime to live, survive, breathe, and not always be perceived as someone who needs to be saved.” – Professor Zanele Muholi1This quote is from Muholi’s talk at Southern Guild titled “A Queer Reading” – Saturday, 12 August 2023..
The quote above, laden with defiance and hope, could not have framed the ‘Ne Keo Gopotse’ exhibition any better. From October 4th to 7th, 2024, Gaborone played host to this landmark exhibition—a first of its kind in Botswana’s arts and culture landscape, organised by the Banana Club Artist Fund (BCAF) in collaboration with We Don’t Settle (WDS). The exhibition not only set the tone for Pride celebrations across the continent but also sparked a cultural awakening, illustrating the powerful intersection between art and African queer identity.
Curated by 2024 Banana Club Artist Fund Artist in Residence, Mbako Kago Moemise, ‘Ne Keo Gopotse’—which translates to “I remember you” in Setswana—engages with themes of belonging, care, and acknowledgement. At its core, the exhibition aimed to explore how memory is shaped, experienced, and reinterpreted in queer African lives. The space it created was monumental, offering a platform for emerging talents from Botswana and South Africa, including celebrated Motswana visual artist Modisa Motsomi, film photographer Eileen Khan, artist Kim Karabo Makin, and South African artists Thulaganyo Sekati and Olebogeng Esemang.
Esemang’s paintings, in particular, ignited vibrant conversations among the attendees. The depth and vulnerability in their work were palpable. Their works grappled with grief in a striking triptych that commemorated traditional Setswana practices during the loss of a loved one. Through this powerful series, Esemang masterfully depicted a process of solitude, using negative space to evoke the emotional weight of absence. Their approach to loss and its customs was both respectful and evocative, encouraging viewers to reflect on the deeply personal and communal experiences of mourning.
Similarly, Motsomi instigated conversations of grief in their wall-based sculpture as three life-sized molds of their face peaked through a casket of flowers and thread. Motsomi’s works interrogated the public and private spheres, with intimate reflections on queer identities and their own lived experiences at the forefront of their study. Reminiscent of a death mask—a once-common but now fading practice of capturing the features of the deceased as a macabre memento—Motsomi’s work grasps onto the fragile means of remembrance, exploring how we hold onto identity and memory in the face of loss.
But it wasn’t just the art that left an impression. Moemise’s decision to host the exhibition in his family home added a deeply personal and symbolic layer. This home, once a private sanctuary, became a public space of affirmation for queer identities. The act of presenting art in such a setting disrupted conventional exhibition spaces, replacing the cold sterility of the white cube with the warmth of heritage and memory. It challenged notions of who art is for and where it belongs, offering a poignant reminder of the importance of safe, nurturing environments for queer African communities.
In his curatorial statement, Moemise shared, “‘Ne Keo Gopotse’ engages with belonging, care, and acknowledgement, and how we remember their existence. The title of this exhibition is a misconstrued sentiment in the malleable nature of the Setswana language and its relation to its geographical context between South Africa and Botswana: ‘I remember you,’ and ‘I thought of you.’”
Moemise’s work wrestles with how we digest and express care, particularly in environments that historically lacked acknowledgement of queer bodies. His collage series, “Sunday Best” which merges queer archival material with references to Catholicism and African spirituality, evoked a rich dialogue about the layers of identity and the intersections of personal and collective memory. As a curator and artist, Moemise has a distinct ability to navigate these complex themes with grace. His practice is rooted in the politics of memory, exploring how queer bodies are remembered—or erased—within African cultural contexts. ‘Ne Keo Gopotse’ is a manifestation of this research, where each artwork serves as a puzzle piece, reconstructing narratives that have been forgotten or silenced. His statement offers a critical lens on how memory functions within marginalised communities, echoing cultural theorist Ashraf Jamal’s reflection: “Ours is a realm of veils of which truth possesses no traction and no worth.2“Looking into the mad eye of history without blinking”, edited by Margot Muir, 2023”
Moemise’s work is a study in parallels—Catholicism versus African spirituality, personal memory versus historical erasure, private versus public space. The exhibition, in turn, became a meditation on these dualities. In one room, Khan’s film photographs captured fleeting moments of intimacy and reflection, while in another, Makin’s ceramics and sound installations explored the fragility of human connection. The interplay of sound, texture, and imagery invited attendees to reflect on how memory, much like clay, can be shaped and reshaped. Sekati’s lace dress worn by a distressed mannequin recontextualized a leisure tunic worn by our mothers and grandmothers. This dress, constructed from the pattern of a tunic worn by his grandmother, now lined with broad shoulder pads; a Victorian style open binding cinching in a triple-panelled corset, asserts an authoritative stance on a figure towering over those who enter the room.
This theme of malleability was key to the exhibition’s ethos. Memory, as Moemise suggests, is not static. It is ever-shifting, influenced by personal experiences and societal contexts. ‘Ne Keo Gopotse’ illustrated this by presenting art not as fixed objects but as living, breathing representations of history and identity.
A highlight of the exhibition was undoubtedly Moemise’s decision to engage with the architectural symbolism of the home. The house is, after all, one of the first spaces where we learn about care and belonging. For many queer individuals, however, it can also be a space of rejection. This tension was palpable in the way the artworks were arranged—delicate ceramics juxtaposed with bold paintings, soft lighting contrasted with the raw emotional depth of the pieces.
As the third iteration of the Banana Club Artist Fund residency, this exhibition highlighted the transformative power of art. The residency, designed to support emerging artists from underserved communities, aims to depoliticize African queer representation through a blend of creative agency and community building. This year’s theme, “The Audacity of Queer Joy,” resonated throughout the exhibition. It was a celebration not only of queer identity but of the resilience and joy that comes with it.
‘Ne Keo Gopotse’ is a significant cultural milestone. It not only elevates African queer experiences but also pushes the boundaries of how we understand memory, identity, and belonging. The exhibition’s intimate setting, thoughtful curation, and powerful artworks created a space where queer bodies were seen, acknowledged, and celebrated. In doing so, it marked a bold new chapter in Botswana’s art scene and set a precedent for future cultural dialogues across the continent.
As Professor Muholi reminds us, it is not a crime to live, to breathe, to exist unapologetically. And in this space, in this moment, that truth was palpable.