Khehla Chepape Makgato’s 19th solo exhibition, Tšhipa E Taga Mohlabeng Wa Gayo, covers major art forms including painting, sculpture, photography, literature and music, writes Malesela Maubane
Makgato’s solo exhibition, currently on at the Polokwane Art Museum until February 28, drew inspiration partly from the works and life of the late literary giant and scholar Dr Es’kia Mphahlele.
It occupies the ground and upper floors of the Art Museum in the heart of the Limpopo capital.
The man behind the work
Makgato, who was born in Johannesburg and raised in Makotopong village, about 30km east of Polokwane, is a painter, artist, sculptor, arts writer and critic.
Makgato is currently the chief curator at the William Humphreys Art Gallery and is also a research associate at the Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, in the Northern Cape.
He has exhibited and travelled widely locally and internationally, including in Athens, Greece, London in the United Kingdom (UK) and Washington DC in the United States of America (USA).
His selection as a 2026 Senior Artist Fellow of Leuphana Institute of Advanced Studies (LIAS) at the University of Leuphana in Germany is further testament to Makgato’s knowledge and authority as an artist beyond South Africa’s borders.
Drawing inspiration from Es’kia Mphahlele
Dr Es’kia Mphahlele, referred often by his traditional praise names Mokgaga ‘a Makubela, was a South African writer, educationist, artist and activist, and is recognised as the Father of African Humanism and is renowned as one of the founding figures of modern African literature.
Dr Mphahlele is celebrated through some of the works as a literary giant and an intellectual. Other works, mainly photographs, showcase people’s everyday lives with a significant number of mixed media pieces on women in music and other sectors of society, including Miriam Makeba, Abigail Kubeka, and Queen Manthatisi Mokotjo of the Batlokwa for her political strategic ability and leadership, among others.
Makeba, the late South African singer, songwriter, actress and civil rights activist, used her music and influence to fight for civil rights during the apartheid era, hence her words: “I’m not a politician; I am a singer. Long ago, they said, ‘That one, she sings politics.’ I don’t sing politics; I merely sing the truth.”
Linocut print pieces of a young Mphahlele during the Drum era and another inspired by his novel The Wanderers (1971) are a beautiful sight to behold.
Mphahlele’s life as a wanderer perhaps started with his uprooting from his birthplace, Marabastad, in Pretoria and sent to his paternal grandmother in Maupaneng village, Ga-Mphahlele south of Polokwane (then Pietersburg) in 1924 before returning a few years later to start schooling.
Moroka’s life as an adult also saw him wander to Lesotho, Nigeria, France, Kenya, Zambia and the USA, among others, due to banishment from teaching in South Africa.
Dr Mphahlele passed on in Lebowakgomo on October 27, 2008, at the age of 88, while 2026 marks his 107th birth year.
Writing in his 1984 autobiography Afrika My Music: An Autography, 1957-1983, Mokgaga had this to say about the Mogodumo mountain range, which is also accessible along the R37 road from Lebowakgomo to Polokwane: “Further on, out of my line of vision, Mogodumo is severed at Chuene’s Pass for the road that runs from Lydenburg to Pietersburg.”
Makgato, a PhD in art candidate at the University of South Africa, can accordingly be called a Dr Es’kia Mphahlele and Queen Manthatisi scholar, especially having researched about the latter in partial fulfilment of a Master of Arts in Fine Arts at the University of Witwatersrand.
A journey through memory
Although I missed the exhibition opening night on December 11 last year, which was graced by Pan-African marketer and branding authority, Thebe Ikalafeng, the walkabout of the whole exhibition and interaction with the artist on December 23, 2025, was worthwhile and prompted a follow-up visit earlier this month.
It is also commendable that Makgato’s 19th solo exhibition provides locals, young and old a free entry opportunity to view high-calibre works of art, with some pieces available for sale.
After all, the simple translation of Tšhipa E Taga Mohlabeng Wa Gayo is “a wildcat shines on its sand” or the idiom “there is no place like home”.
Incredibly curated by Amos Letsoalo, Happy Dlame and Gadi Magagane, the exhibition showcases Makgato’s works comprising mixed media, collage, acrylic painting, water colour, charcoal drawing, photography, and installation of books as well as arched material in glass cabinets.
Some of the faces from the 1950s Drum era, besides Mphahlele, included the Pietersburg [now Polokwane] born Arthur Maimane, whom I had the pleasure of learning from as a guest lecturer during my journalism student days at the erstwhile Technikon Northern Gauteng (now Tshwane University of Technology Soshanguve South Campus).
Another one-time Drum magazine team member, Matthew Nkoana, who also once worked for the Bantu World (now Sowetan), was apparently born in my area, Ga-Mashashane, west of Polokwane.
A framed photo titled Mmethiša, referring to what is generally a bakkie in South Africa, a pick-up truck for people in the UK and USA, a ute, short for utility vehicle in Australia and New Zealand, caught my eye.
Historically, Mmethiša was used as a mode of transport to makgoweng in our country, mainly Gauteng’s Johannesburg and Pretoria.
My father, Malesela Samuel Maubane, who has since passed on, was a migrant worker on the Reef. As such, for most of his working life, Mmethiša, largely late uncle Jerry Sekhaolelo’s American brand pick-up truck, probably a 1970s Chevrolet Custom D30, was his preferred mode of transport until his death 34 years ago.
Well, you do not have to take my word for it when it comes to Tšhipa E Taga Mohlabeng Wa Gayo. There is still time until February 28, 2026, to catch the exhibition at the Polokwane Art Museum, wherein you will surely find a piece of art that resonates with you among his wide range of creations.
Maubane is a non-practising journalist, communicator and storyteller.
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