Biography

Lesego Tatiana Ditshego is a 29 year old South African woman currently residing in Daveyton, Ekurhuleni, East of Johannesburg, South Africa. Lesego works in painting, charcoal, printmaking and collage. She is also interested in history, poetry and writing.  In 2020 Ditshego enrolled at the Artist Proof Studio to study printmaking and art making. In 2021 she interned part time at the ArtRoom Gallery, learning the art of framing under the guidance of Ryan Hitchcock the Gallery's owner.

She has participated in group shows through APS including UJ & UP student print collaboration exchange, Waste Reclaimers, Documenta, Germany, 2022. Completed a two month internship at Strauss & Co, 2022. Collaborated on a print calendar centered around women activism both past and present around the world - ILRIG (the International Labor Research and Information Group), Cape Town, 2021. She was awarded the Ubuntu Award for best 2^nd year students in 2021 as well as the Academic Award for highest academic achievement in 2nd year. Recently Ditshego has been a studio assistant to Johannesburg based artist, Dudu Bloom More.

Artist Statement

My body of work attempts to question my womanhood and identity as a woman of colour. The notion of the feminine as something small naïve and insignificant is something that I wrestle with daily and express in my work. I live in a context where I have the opportunities to educate myself and be independent and self-sustaining but, how far I go to attain these goals is still quite limited because of the cultural expectations that dictate what a ‘good’ woman is.

In my context, men and boys are afforded more liberty and space to explore and assert themselves and assume respect. My work interrogates these gender roles specifically the so called ‘feminine’ behaviors I have to adopt to remain safe, protected and acceptable within my family, community and broader context. At the same time, I grapple with what is considered more ‘masculine’ traits which include assertiveness, ambition, power over Self and respect. Saara Baartman is an anchor within my work, in many ways her womanhood and her femaleness, rendered her powerless as she was reduced to an object of fascination. She had no power, especially over her own body.

This is another idea that I struggle with; the need for self-protection, protecting my body, my femaleness. Which is expressed in a so called ‘masculine’ manner. In conclusion my body of work is about questioning and expressing these conflicting and sometimes difficult (to reconcile) parts of my identity and womanhood.