Lebohang Motaung

I love to create art that changes peoples’ lives. I want people to engage with it; I don’t want it to be just an aesthetic thing. I use different materials to turn something ordinary into an extraordinary object. I suffer from ADD when it comes to my work, which means I sometimes get bored and end up exploring new ideas.

I draw inspiration from the conversations I have with other women. I observe the goingson in the streets of Joburg, where I work, and my home town in Sebokeng. I’m inspired when I see other women walk confidently in our male-dominated society, and stand strong despite stereotypes, bullying and inequality. Hair symbolises strength and pride, so I use it in my work to describe these women.

I come up with an idea, then I take photographs and turn them into drawings, paintings or prints. The end product is rarely the one I had in mind because new ideas come to me while I’m working. Through my work, I look at South African women who’re told how they should wear their hair, and the pressure imposed on them by a society that judges them based on how they look.

I promote self-definition and self-expression because women shouldn’t be afraid to express themselves for the fear of being judged. Your hair allows you to be creative, dramatic, and you can change it. This discourse isn’t just about how women wear or address their hair and craft their visual outlook; it’s also about the politics of self-definition, -expression, -care, -appreciation and -love, in irreducible forms of identity, representation or signification.

It’s a way of addressing social issues without being confrontational. It pulls at the strings of the viewer, and in projecting its message it may or may not call them to action on the issues it raises. It’s another medium to communicate with people who’ve become desensitised to the terrible things that are happening in the world they live in. In delivering its message, I think it also creates hope for a better tomorrow. Art helps us work through our emotions.