By Ticha Muvhuti

At first glance one is drawn to the different facial expressions, the elaborate headdresses and the colourful collars adorned by the women portrayed in Lerato Motau’s Ten Thousand Women, her second solo exhibition currently on at AITY Gallery in Franschhoek. In this form of Black figuration, the artist employs embroidery as a form of painting. Motau uses this layered form of storytelling to celebrate and memorialise the community of women around her, who have been with her through thick and thin.

In this conversation with writer Barnabas Ticha Muvhuti, the artist discusses different aspects of this unique last edition of works.