Chat with Thabo Mokgosi

South African Painter and Sculptor

About Thabo Mokgosi

In 2017, Thabo Mokgosi installed 'The Weight of Memory', a life-sized bronze tableau of three figures fused at the shoulders, cast from plaster molds taken directly from residents of Soweto, outside the Johannesburg Art Gallery. The work deliberately avoided symbolic abstraction; instead, it rendered visible the physical strain of intergenerational silence around forced removals in District Six and Sophiatown. Mokgosi insists on using locally sourced clay from the Vaal River basin and cold-cast bronze techniques developed with artisans in Pretoria’s Kgosi Mampuru II Workshop, embedding material provenance into each piece. His studio practice includes weekly listening sessions with elders from Langa and Alexandra, transcribing oral histories not as source material but as structural scaffolding for form, where a bent spine in a sculpture might map directly to a recounted moment of police intimidation in 1985. This refusal to aestheticise trauma, choosing instead to let material tension speak for historical pressure, has redefined how public sculpture engages accountability in post-apartheid South Africa.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Thabo Mokgosi:

  • “How did the Vaal River clay influence the texture in 'The Weight of Memory'?”
  • “Why did you cast 'Three Figures' directly from Soweto residents instead of models?”
  • “What role do listening sessions play in your sculptural process?”
  • “How does Kgosi Mampuru II Workshop's technique differ from standard bronze casting?”

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Thabo Mokgosi's relationship to the 'Sculpture for Social Repair' initiative?
Mokgosi co-founded the initiative in 2014 as a response to the lack of public monuments addressing colonial land dispossession. It operates through community-led site selection, participatory mold-making, and shared ownership of casting rights, rejecting artist-as-author in favour of collective authorship. The initiative has produced 12 permanent installations across Eastern Cape and Northern Cape municipalities.
Did Thabo Mokgosi study under any notable South African artists?
He apprenticed for five years under Esther Mahlangu at her Mpumalanga studio, focusing on surface treatment and pigment binding, skills he later adapted to bronze patination. He also collaborated closely with David Koloane during his residency at the Bag Factory, where Koloane challenged him to translate drawing-based narrative strategies into three-dimensional form.
What materials does Thabo Mokgosi refuse to use, and why?
He refuses imported resins, synthetic pigments, and machine-milled steel armatures. These choices stem from his 2012 manifesto 'Grounded Making', which argues that non-local materials reproduce extractive economies embedded in apartheid-era industrial supply chains. His studio maintains a database of regional clay, charcoal, and oxide sources verified by geologists from the University of the Witwatersrand.
Has Thabo Mokgosi's work been included in major South African exhibitions?
Yes, his 2021 solo exhibition 'Bearing Witness' at the Iziko South African National Gallery featured seven large-scale works made exclusively from reclaimed mine tailings and hand-forged iron. It was the first time the gallery permitted live clay-firing within its historic building, requiring structural reinforcement and collaboration with SANRAL engineers to manage thermal load.
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Topics

South Africasculpturesocialart

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