07 June 2025 | Story: By: Tayron Mhlongo | Photo: VUT
3 minutes read time.
At the Latitudes Art Fair, Dimpho Lehoko stood beside her emotionally powerful artwork, which explores themes of childhood memories, painful experiences, and the process of healing. The soft murmurs of visitors blended with ambient sounds as they engaged with her installations titled Mogosha and Mantlane. This was not merely an exhibition; it was an intimate portrayal of Lehoko’s lived experiences, transformed into a visual language that connects the personal with the collective.
“When I was invited to participate in the Strange Fruit Exhibition, I felt a deep sense of purpose,” says Ms Lehoko, her eyes reflecting both vulnerability and determination. “Strange Fruit is more than a theme; it is a protest, a reckoning. It challenges the normalisation of violence against women and children in the South African context while speaking to global struggles for justice, care, and collective healing.”
As a Fine Art postgraduate student at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT), she has developed a distinctive artistic voice that draws on childhood memories to explore urgent social issues. Her approach is intentional and quietly subversive. Rather than creating confrontational art, she invites viewers into spaces of play and familiarity, guiding them gently towards difficult truths.
At the heart of her contribution to the exhibition are works inspired by Mogosha and Mantlane, traditional South African games with deep cultural roots. These are more than nostalgic references; they are powerful vehicles for exploring complex emotional and social dynamics.
“I tell these stories in a playful yet poignant manner,” she explains. “I often draw from indigenous games I grew up playing, like Mantlwane, a form of imaginative role-play where children mimic domestic life. These games offer an accessible and familiar way to reflect on issues of care, imagination, and belonging. Through the language of play, I invite viewers to reconnect with their own childhoods, and to consider how those memories intersect with deeper themes of trauma and healing.”
This creative method forges a strong emotional connection with viewers. Many who attended the exhibition described feeling transported back to their youth, only to find themselves confronted by layered narratives of violence, resilience, and restoration.
The Strange Fruit Exhibition, organised by BNAP at the Latitudes Art Fair, is a significant moment in South Africa’s art activism movement. Named after Billie Holiday’s haunting protest song against racial violence, the exhibition gives voice to artists addressing the entrenched violence within society.
For Ms Lehoko, the experience has been transformative. “It opened up opportunities for conversations with curators, collectors, and other artists,” she shares. “I was exposed to new ways of interpreting my work and encouraged to think more critically about its place in the broader African art discourse.”
Her participation in the exhibition also emboldened her to be more deliberate in her storytelling. The experience affirmed the importance of her voice and its relevance in conversations that span cultural, political, and emotional boundaries.
