‘Yo O Sa Leleng’ ignites provocative dialogue

Goitsemodimo Kaelo | Sunday November 19, 2023 06:00

 

This exhibition, which will run until November 30, features six of Botswana’s leading young contemporary artists, Giancarlo LaGuerta, Letso Leipego, Thero Makepe, Legakwanaleo Makgekgenene, Kim Makin and Modisa Tim Motsumi. The Yo O Sa Leleng Group Exhibition features a variety of media, including photography, film, and installation work, as well as painting and drawing.

The exhibition curator who is also among the exhibiting artists, Giancarlo LaGuerta said the exhibition is a platform for the artists to come together to exchange views, experiences and varying artistic expertise to address head-on matters of asymmetrical power structures and social ills.

He said the exhibition explores topics that people normally discuss in their little bubbles but are afraid to do so in public spaces such as religion, race and sexuality to name but a few. “The name Yo O Sa Leleng is part of a Setswana idiom, ‘Ngwana yo o sa leleng o swela tharing’, which directly translates to ‘the child who does not cry dies in their sling/on their mother’s back’. This means that those who don’t speak out cannot expect to be heard and it warns that suffering in silence ends in preventable demise,” Giancarlo LaGuerta explained. Giancarlo LaGuerta, who this show will be his solo curatorial debut, stated that they have used the image of a child in a sling, on its mother’s back, where the child is crying out for its mother to know that something is amiss.

Furthermore, he explained that ‘Yo O Sa Leleng’ in essence, reflects that this is the artists’ moment of crying out to alert that something is amiss. “This came from a position of necessity. I think it is necessary that we have relevant conversations about our various existence. In doing so, they begin to encourage an artist-cum-activist culture amongst Batswana practitioners where not only our work but our platforms, communities and networks engage with and contribute to the transformation of our lived realities,” he noted.

Additionally, he said apart from highlighting societal woes, the objective is to encourage dialogue around cultural and political issues while serving as a catalyst for introspection and change. He said the series affords attendants an overall opportunity to question, reflect, and be part of a movement that emphasises the transformative power of voice in reshaping the world.

“I’m part of a generation that subscribes to the old ways. But I think we have to speak out, we have to question things because our future is in question. In so doing, I had to choose a place that I feel allows even people without interest in the art to join and be part of the conversation,” he said.