Object Parents

    Natural resources that “parent” objects:
  • baobab tree

Monna O Montsho

Length: 80mm
Breadth: 55mm
• The object has a very personal connection with family and personal memory and it is difficult to remove that sentimental attachment from it and just view it as a sculpture.
• The object currently exists as a family heirloom, and although I have used it for creative purposes, I intend to keep it for my whole life and pass it down to my children or someone else in my family.

Object Domicile

Kingston Court, 8 Chapel Road, Rosebank, Western Cape, South Africa 7770

Object Origin

Main Mall Market, Pula Circle, Gaborone, Botswana Latitude: - 24.6581415, Longitude: 25.916111432608695 Circa 1996-2000

My object was made as a sculpture for the purpose of being sold at a market located in the central business district of Gaborone. Thereafter, it became a decoration in my grandparent’s home.

‘Monna O Montso’ evokes a childhood parenting moment from a baby’s point of view, where an everyday object stopping him from being mischievous looks bigger, mysterious and frightening.

The adults in my house, including my grandmother, were working class, which meant I spent a lot of time at home with my blind grandfather. His disability forced my grandmother to find creative methods of disciplining me in her absence; something which has always stayed with me and kept our bond strong.

The words ‘mischievous’ and ‘childhood’ are very much interlinked across different cultures, races, locations, and eras. In my curation that interconnectivity was explored with a playful take on constructed photography.

Black parents are often portrayed as being violent and brutal to their children to discipline them. My hope is to subvert this notion by showing that black parents, or grandparents in my case, are also capable of employing alternative and creative disciplinary methods for the mischievousness played out in childhood.

Acknowledgements

Martha Mothopeng & Pinkie Agnes Mothopeng-Makepe – Maternal family Pippa Skotnes & Martin Wilson – Curation elective lecturers Ulriche Jantjes – Classmate Contribute information to this page