KIM MAKIN | The Doors of Culture Shall be Opened

Kim finds photos boring, she likes her art to come to life, to experience it, to touch it and feel its texture, she also loves artwork that is three dimensional. Thus, while completing her Master of Fine Art, she thought, why not marry my background in radio and my love for art. Not long after, she started to explore Sound Sculpture.  

Moreover, Kim’s work is deeper than that, she wants her work to have an impact, to start conversations and to challenge and shift perspectives, so she digs deeper, in her latest work, “The Doors of Culture Shall Be Opened” an audio and visual exhibition that we were honored to see in person, Kim traces aspects of her family history and her own identity from the lenses of transnational identity and while also examining the historical entanglements across Botswana and South Africa. Below is a summary of our conversation with Kim. We guarantee you’ll learn a thing or two. 

Kim Makin at her exhibition in Gaborone, Botswana

Please introduce yourself to the TAP Fam.

My name is Kim Karabo Makin, I am a multi-disciplinary artist based in Gaborone, Botswana. My art practice mainly stems from my background in sculpture. My interest is in looking at materials and sculptural forms. I like to execute my ideas in 3D. I also have a background as a radio deejay. Most recently, I've been working with sound and sound installations, thinking through how I can experience sound as sculptural and taking a particular interest in sound, oral archives, and oral traditions as a form of storytelling.

Wow, I feel like you’re about to take us to the metaverse! 

{Laughs} Yeah, that’s the idea, exploring different ways to experience art.

For someone who is completely new to this, how do these two things come together? How did you start exploring sound as sculptures?

My experiment into sculpture and sound came from when I started my Master of Fine Art, and I wanted to marry my background in radio with my background in art. I wanted to set up sound installations and have their experience be three dimensional - like we experience sound. I guess because I majored in sculpture, I often struggle to think about things in 2D, that’s why I don’t really like paintings or photography. I feel like they’re flat and I like art that's dynamic, that gives you some sort of experience. With respect to sound installations, and experiencing sound as three dimensional, there’s a sound piece titled “On Gaborone in 1985”, that I made as part of my master's show called The Doors of Culture Shall Be Opened that you will have seen at the exhibition. 

I like that you find photography boring…. I’m sure your photographer friends will find this interesting too 

{Laughs) No, no, no. I respect photographers and the work they do, It's just not for me. I trust photographers to do their thing, but I don't think it's my thing to do. I like for my ideas to come to life, to be able to touch them, to feel their texture etc. 

Colour theory piece by Kim Makin

What was the creative process around making the piece “On Gaborone in 1985”?

With this piece, I had it specifically mixed and mastered for surround sound speakers, but then the speakers also became an artwork. So, I suppose you could think of the speakers as the sculptural element because they had their own artistic elements. I've been calling them speaker vessels, they were sort of baskets, enamel bowls and these different objects that I have particularly picked as having a social resonance, or a cultural value. And so now with the sound, by placing the speaker inside these speaker vessels, the idea is to activate the sculpture using sound. And then beyond that, because the sound has been mastered for surround sound, there's different sounds that play from different speakers, so the sound comes out of five speakers. And because of the placement of the speakers, depending on how you interact with the work, you'll hear different parts of the sound, you know, a little bit louder, or specifically at one speaker as opposed to another. I'm really interested in how that guides the viewer or the listener through the space. I think about sound as sort of activating the space and prompting the viewer or listener to interact with the work in a particular way. 

So, how did you find yourself in the arts? Would you say you found art or did art find you?

Art found me…. In primary school, I used to joke around that I'm going to be an artist. But it was a joke. By the time I got to secondary school, I thought I was going to become a human rights lawyer. In fact, my high school friends still tease me about those days because I was very set on doing something along those lines. I was also quite good at math and physics. Thus, I was also being encouraged to do something along the lines of architecture. But, upon graduation, and by the time I got to University of Cape Town (UCT), I’d enrolled into a General Bachelor of Arts program and was majoring in film and media, art history and linguistics. From here on, it was through the art history course that I really got inspired to get into arts fully.  

Was there anything specific that inspired you? 

I think growing up in Botswana, I wasn't aware of the opportunity and potential to make a career out of the arts as we're still developing creatively. But, through my experience interacting with some of my lecturers at UCT and hearing about their experiences in the arts, I was really inspired. For example, I remember in my earlier classes, there was a moment when one of my lecturers had just got back from the Dakar Biennale.  She's originally from Swaziland, but she grew up in South Africa. She spoke of where she started to now exhibit at Dakar Biennale, which from what I understood was and is the hub of art in Africa. I was just so inspired by hearing her speak. I sent her this super long email and it was really that specific lecture that encouraged me to reapply to fine art. I applied for fine art and architecture and got into both. Then, I was very confused. But eventually I decided to go for art, and I have never looked back ever since.

You chose Art ahead of Architecture, how did your parents receive that? 

My parents are very supportive. They sort of left the decision to me, although I think my dad was sort of encouraging me to go with architecture. It has a more stable career path and income. It didn't help that I also got the acceptance letter from the architecture department first. So, he was a little bit excited. But to be fair, once I decided, they were all supportive of me and I'm glad that they did. And honestly, I had a few friends that were in the architecture department, so I went to go look at one of their class sessions and that scared me a little bit. Architecture just looked scary, it was a lot of numbers and you had to draw a building from the north face, south face, all these different scales. I just got a little bit overwhelmed, but I am still quite interested in architecture even though I think I'm more interested in looking at architecture from an artistic angle. Not necessarily buildings or houses, but more like public sculptures. Even though I still harbor an interest in architecture, I'm happy that I went the more creative route. 

The Doors of Culture Shall Be Opened, what’s the backstory of this exhibition and work?

The Doors of Culture Shall Be Opened is an audio, visual exhibition by myself. It is a personalized tracing of aspects of my familiar history and specifically looking at transnational identity and the historical entanglements across Botswana and South Africa. Most of my research theoretically, was looking into the Medu Art Ensemble, which was this ensemble or cultural organization based in Gaborone Botswana in the late seventies and eighties.

It was composed mainly of exiles from South Africa. And the whole idea of the organization was to think about ways that they can use culture as a weapon or a tool for change, specifically against the apartheid regime. The title The Doors of Culture Shall Be Opened, which I saw in a book, is a reference to a poster that was made by the Medu Art Ensemble. When I saw the poster, I was so intrigued that I then went and looked through a lot of their materials. They would have a newsletter that they printed regularly, which had a lot of radical theories. 

They would also have posters inside this newsletter which were smuggled into South Africa because at the time, they were considered a propaganda organization. An interesting element of this is that, although this Medu Art Ensemble occurred in my hometown, I never learned about them until I moved to Cape Town for school. I found this quite ironic. So, through my research, I was trying to get my hands on one of their newsletters to see what they were about, and I found two of them in UCT special collections library. To my surprise, only one of the newsletters I found had a poster inside. And obviously, coming from the art perspective, I was most interested in this sort of visual element of their practice. I was so amazed to find this one poster and that's what kind of inspired the whole exhibition. My research was just guided by kind of reimagining this poster

THE DOORS OF CULTURE SHALL BE OPENED

Is a line from the South African Freedom Charter. It's referencing the fact that under apartheid, there was a lot of censorship of ideas, as was the case with Medu.

The Doors of Culture Shall Be Opened, is actually a line from the South African Freedom Charter. It's referencing the fact that under apartheid, there was a lot of censorship of ideas, as was the case with Medu. In fact, the full sentence is that The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall Be Opened.

I think it's relevant today, for one thing, having spent quite a lot of time in South Africa, there are still remnants of the apartheid regime that you experience daily in South Africa. But I think beyond that, within the context of Botswana, it's also important for me to prompt for us to open the doors of culture, because there's still a lot of growth and creative development that I would like to see here at home. It's just an encouragement for us as artists to build communities for ourselves and to uplift one another until we can get the full support of the rest of the country.

What would you say are the historical entanglements of southern Africa? Both culturally and creatively?

Well, it's very layered. Where do I even begin? In the first place, it was quite interesting for me, specifically with the example of Medu Art Ensemble, that although it happened in my hometown, that I only learned about it when I moved away from home. It was interesting to think about this moment in history that in some ways is celebrated as a South African history or as a South African moment in Art history, although in terms of physical location, it didn't happen within the national borders of South Africa.

Thus, I’m interested in exploring Medu Art Ensemble as a moment or a case in point, for example of a historical entanglement. And I suppose my whole project is interested in relocating it within the context of Botswana, because I don't think it was by accident that it happened here. I'm interested in this sort of shared history. And, if we take it a step further, culturally, there are a lot of things that make us similar across the borders of Botswana and South Africa specifically, before I even get to the rest of the region and then the rest of the continent.

For another thing, it was quite interesting for me to kind of navigate my own identity in South Africa culturally and traditionally, but also in terms of my national identity. I am a Motswana, I'm from Botswana, but Tswana is also one of the official languages of South Africa. It's quite ironic because technically speaking, there are more Tswana speaking people in South Africa than there are in the whole of Botswana.

This likely has more to do with the fact that Botswana’s population is so small. But it's quite ironic that our national language is Tswana, but that there are more Tswana speaking people in South Africa than the whole of Botswana. Thus, in a way, I was quite interested in this idea of to what extent does being a Motswana include some aspects of South Africanness, if I can say that. It almost feels like we are connected in some ways. There's an aspect of ourselves that we have to understand through a South African perspective.

This just became an interesting thing for me to reflect on. And if I take it a little bit further and look at our history, Botswana is recorded as I believe the only country that ever had a capital city that was outside of its national borders. Our capital used to be Mafikeng, which is in South Africa, and then only after independence did our capital become Gaborone.

So again, it's this idea that there's an aspect of Botswana or of being a Motswana that is kind of encompassed in South Africa. And if you look at the history, Botswana was supposed to be absorbed into the Union of South Africa at some stage. Even after gaining our own independence, there was a time we had protection from the Queen to deter this. These are some of the entanglements. We were implicated in South Africa's history. We were implicated by apartheid South Africa, even though we weren't necessarily directly involved. 

That is quite informative, culturally, I imagine there's a bit of entanglement as well.

Yes, if we think about specific cultural symbols like baskets, we see how this specific symbol of cultural value and cultural identity gets translated across borders. So, whereas we are well known for our distinct basketry, it's interesting to see the different sort of forms of baskets that you find just across the border in South Africa. 

There are things that connect us historically or culturally that are far beyond anything we can define by national borders. These elements go beyond these very arbitrary borders. And I guess that's why I'm also interested in this idea of transnational identity, because I'm interested in this concept of identity and how it travels across borders. I don't think “identity” can necessarily be fixed by national borders, so our sense of selves exists in different forms depending on context.

 What other cool historical gems did you uncover while writing your thesis? 

I found that apparently, our local radio networks here in Botswana used to be governed by the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which was interesting during Apartheid, because it meant that in some ways, we got the specific public apartheid broadcasts. But when Botswana became an independent republic, the setting up of a national broadcasting radio station like Radio Botswana, was a way to cement our national identity. So, it was interesting to think about how sound can also be a symbol of identity in a way.

Identity is another strong theme in your work, how do you define identity?

Well, I've been trying to define it for years, and a short answer is that I think that identity is fluid. I think that it also has the potential to be multiple or plural. Identity is not necessarily fixed or static, it can change. In some ways, I think that identity is relative to context. 

In my experience, I find that my identity is sort of defined by where I am at the time, who I'm speaking to, and perhaps even their own historical understanding of themselves, their identity, and their upbringing in that respect. Identity in my experience has sort of been like a negotiation. In some ways I've had to consider the way that I identify myself and how that might be different to how someone might identify me.

It was interesting for me to think about my identity within the context of Botswana and then how that looked quite different, or how people experience me quite differently within the context of South Africa. I found that perhaps, while I might identify myself, let's say, as a coloured person within the context of Botswana, being coloured in Cape Town means something very different, because there’s a whole culture attached to it that I don't necessarily relate to. It was being challenged in that way. A lot of the time I would get asked the question, what are you? When I was in South Africa, and that's when I started to think that for example, in a post-Apartheid South Africa, unfortunately there is still this sort of segregation of races. A lot of the time, within the context of South Africa, it is quite important even today for people to identify themselves by their race. 

Growing up in Botswana, I didn't necessarily have to do that in the same way. So, it was interesting for me to sort of grapple with my identity and what it means to have a racial identity, to have a national identity, to have a cultural identity and to what extent are all these things different and the same. 

Interestingly, here, customarily, in terms of forming a part of a tribe, you're supposed to be from where your father is from. There's this idea that your tribal allegiance is passed on through your father. And that's quite often a trend in patriarchal societies. So, when I think about my identity as being layered, there's also a gendered aspect included. Then, there's also a traditional aspect included. And in my case, that was quite complex because my dad isn't originally from Botswana, although he later naturalized to become a Motswana. So, someone might ask me, oh, where are you from? And I would say Botswana. But if you can't say which tribe your father is a part of, then to the average Motswana, they’ll be like, you're not actually a Motswana.

And so it's quite ironic because although I've only known Botswana to be my home, and I learn a lot about Tswana culture through my mom, and as much as I would like to proclaim that I am a Motswana and claim my mom’s village, Serowe, as my village, if I were to really take it to the extent of being very technical about it, because my dad is not actually from here, in believing myself to be a Motswana, I also simultaneously have to accept that I’m not. Or that other people might believe that I am not. 

Generally, identity is this weird conversation, an internal debate and something that you can decide for yourself and even though someone might identify you differently, that's OK! It's the same as home: I’m interested in thinking about home. Is home a specific place or do we carry aspects of home every day and everywhere? 

What do you hope to achieve with your art?

I'm interested in art that has a social impact. I am committed personally to some sort of social change. And in some ways, I'm interested in continuing the ethos and ideas of the Medu Art Ensemble in that way. Although I didn't become a human rights lawyer like I thought I would in high school, in some ways, I'm interested in making art that can impact people and impact social change in one way or the other.

I'm attracted to offering conversations that can resound outside of the gallery space. Artwork that people can go home and discuss with their friends and loved ones. That, for me, is what defines a work as successful, if we're able to have conversations about it. I'm interested in making art that can be engaging and intriguing and that can spark a long-lasting interest. Eventually, I'm hoping that I'll be able to ignite this interest in the average Motswana, to commit myself to creative development locally. 

Outside of art, what else inspires you? 

I am really inspired by my community and my peers. Even at school, I was quite often inspired by my classmates more so than my lectures. I think we learn so much from one another, and that's what inspires my practice.

I’m part of an arts collective that is called The Botswana Pavilion. The idea behind the Arts Pavilion is to create a space or a platform to build an art community in Botswana in the absence of national support. We want to have conversations around what it means to be a Motswana creative and what our creative identity looks like and to have that as an ongoing conversation among ourselves until we can set up institutions and truly establish the art industry locally. 

What's next for Kim?

I'm currently working on an online residency called Ja Ja Ja Nee Nee Nee with a radio platform based in Amsterdam that is dedicated to the arts. In the next month or so, I will be broadcasting the final output of that residency. I'll then continue doing some more research related to my exploration into Medu Art Ensemble, and I'm hoping to have more conversations that unpack my thinking through radio sound as having a specific cultural value. In the meanwhile, I'm also working on new artworks, which I'll hopefully exhibit early this year. 

Interview by Ras Mutabaruka

Images by Robert Asimba for TAP Magazine