Botala jwa Botswana' (the Blue of Botswana)

Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative Colours of Africa, a collaborative project with Google Arts & Culture, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them. The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.

Colour:Botala jwa Botswana

Country:Botswana

Artwork rationale:

For my Colours of Africa project I decided to look at the sky-blue colour that is used on the Botswana flag. I wanted to challenge the grand narrative of Botswana and how we perceive the colour blue.
I think about our traditional dress, the blanket shawls that elderly women wear. For me there is something about this particular shade of blue that feels motherly; that reminds me of my mother tongue; that reminds me of home. This blue has a feminine tone. But in combining it with the historical narrative behind the faces on our banknotes, the history of the fathers of the nation, I am attempting to unpack how this shade of blue talks to the layers of our society.
In Setswana the word “botala” can be used both to denote the colour blue – as in the phrase botala jwa loapi, which literally translates to “the blue of the sky” – or green in the phrase botala jwa matlhare/setlhare, which specifically refers to the colour of the leaves and trees.
My colour discovery project investigates the colour blue as subjective in the context of Botswana, with a critical look at the cultural value of botala. My project Botala jwa Botswana (2020) unpacks the colour “blue” as symbolic of the shades of the nation, and in some ways representative of my experience of the unique spirit of my home in Botswana.
Botala jwa Botswana (2020) features a repeated pattern design that borrows from the one hundred Botswana Pula banknote. This significantly includes a depiction of the Three Dikgosi (Chiefs), who are monumentalised as fathers of the nation for their role in the Republic of Botswana’s grand narrative. The varied pattern of geometrics in Botala jwa Botswana (2020) also resembles the design of Botswana’s traditional dress, letaisi.1
By intricately weaving together the history of the Three Chiefs with the cultural value of particular geometric patterns and traditional dress, Botala jwa Botswana (2020) unpacks the layers of our societal make-up and fabric, based on my experience of daily life in Botswana. Thus, Botala jwa Botswana (2020) critically engages the colour blue with respect to a particular sense of subjective nationhood.

1 Also known in Sotho as shweshwe, shoeshoe, sejeremane, as well as terantala (derived from Afrkiaans tarentaal), and ujamani in Xhosa, letaisi refers to a particular printed dyed cotton fabric widely used for traditional clothing across Southern Africa. Originally dyed indigo, the fabric is manufactured in a variety of colours (most notably blue, brown and red), and printing designs, characterized by intricate geometric patterns. It is suggested that 19th century German and Swiss settlers imported the blaudruck (blue print) fabric for their clothing, and helped entrench it in Southern African culture.

Artwork rationale:

There is a saying in Setswana that reads “ntwa kgolo ke ya molomo” – “the highest form of war is dialogue”.
This saying underpins Botswana’s customary court (or kgotla), where it is imperative that all present have their say.
I believe that to be African means to be in constant conversation with our historical entanglement. To be African means to acknowledge and nurture the interconnectedness of one’s sense of self. To be African I believe resounds a vibrant history of exchange – of living by and through one another, through colourful storytelling and song.

Biography:

Born in Gaborone, Botswana; Kim Karabo Makin is a multidisciplinary artist and Master of Fine Art (MFA) student, at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town (South Africa). Much of her work is informed by her multiculturalism and lived sense of displacement - with particular attention to the role that context plays in identity formation. Makin’s practice at present compounds aspects of her background in Sculpture (her undergraduate major), with her experience in New Media and Radio - having worked on-air at UCT Radio since 2016. Her practice thus combines sculpture, sound and installation, with a research archival base and unique spatial awareness.

She has participated in a number of group exhibitions, including Return to Sender (Centre for African Studies Gallery, University of Cape Town, 2015), The Devil Loves When We Loathe Ourselves (99 Loop Gallery, Cape Town, 2018), Formally Known As (AVA Gallery, Cape Town, 2019), the Graduate
Exhibition at the RMB Turbine Art Fair (curated by Kefiloe Siwisa in collaboration with Maja Marx, Johannesburg, 2019), as well as in three installations of The Botswana Pavilion; No Return (Gallery MOMO, Cape Town, 2019), Subjective Nationhood - supported by Sefalana (Botswana National Art Gallery, Gaborone, 2019) and Collective Ties - supported by an ANT Mobility Grant from Pro Helvetia Johannesburg (live now as a virtual tour powered by ArtSteps, accompanied by a series of ongoing online
interactions).

In 2018, she was shortlisted as one of the Top 100 finalists in the Absa L’Atelier. Most recently, Makin participated in group showcases (Past Present Currents presented by Re-curators and the Michaelis Masters Showcase respectively) at Latitudes and Turbine Art Fair (online). In 2019, she was selected to
represent The Botswana Pavilion as a Hub Manager at the Creative Hubs Academy (created in partnership with Nesta, British Council and Hivos). She continues to form a core member and contributing artist of the collective platform.

(1) Also known in Sotho as shweshwe, shoeshoe, sejeremane, as well as terantala (derived from Afrkiaans tarentaal), and ujamani in Xhosa, letaisi referes to a particular printed dyed cotton fabric widely used for traditional clothing across Southern Africa. Originally dyed indigo, the fabric is manufactured in a variety of colours (most notably blue, brown and red), and printing designs, characterised by intricate geometric patterns. It is suggested that 19th century German and Swiss settlers imported the blaudruck (blue print) fabric for their clothing, and helped entrench it in Southern African culture.