Katleho Mosia

VIRTUAL TOUR

To Every Birth its Blood (2024)

The postcolonial discourse on identity and culture is a complicated and layered topic that examines the long-lasting effects of Western colonialism with relation to the development of identities of the indigenous cultures of various nations. The Basotho culture of Lesotho is one such nation. The history of the Basotho is intricately linked to the effects of colonialism, which profoundly changed their way of life, relationship with the land, and sparked a complex identity crisis in which people struggle with the multiple factors that determine who they are.

Art has always been a powerful instrument for analysing complex and varied subjects, and one of the most ageless and important topics is identity and belonging. I, Katleho Mosia, born in QwaQwa, Free State, South Africa, am an artist of Basotho descent. My sense of belonging and my perspective of my environment are shaped by the complex relationship between Western colonisation and Basotho culture. As a young Black woman born in a world that once denied my ancestors their humanity, I carry the weight of displacement, cultural disconnection, and the search for belonging. The soil beneath me, once rich with the roots of my lineage, feels fragmented, forcing me to confront the fractures colonialism has inflicted on my sense of self.

In the aftermath of postcolonial discourse, through the mediums of painting and sculpture, the creation of my art becomes a process of bleeding out the pain of the past and discovering the relationship between people and their land. This body of work examines the ways in which my art responds to this discourse, focusing particularly on navigating the journey of an oppressive past and cultural history, in order to create a present that invites an aggrieved people towards rebirth and consequently a post-traumatic identity.