Forgetting Ntaba kaNdoda explores notions of place, memory and memorialisation at the Ntaba kaNdoda Monument. Performing for and with the camera, Thando produces a series of multi-layered photographs that respond to the urgency that is Ntaba kaNdoda’s memory. Forgetting Ntaba kaNdoda seeks to translate for the viewers his own experience of the Monument, reframe and reconfigure it as a multiplex place of memory, exploring the knots of memory that continue to enrich the meta-narrative of its history. Forgetting Ntaba kaNdoda not only represent his own performative commemoration and self-reflective exploration on the Monument, but also affirm the memories he holds of Ntaba kaNdoda.

Thando Mama acquired an MFA from Rhodes University with the SARChI Geopolitics and the Arts of Africa research initiative. His research is on memory, focusing on the ways in which memory is fluid, multilayered, and both collective and individual, as well as the relationship between photography and memory, particularly looking at memorialisation at Ntaba ka Ndoda Monument at Kieskammahoek in the Eastern Cape.