Portfolio.
B.K.S Statement.
Boseatleng Katso Sesame is a multidisciplinary conceptual artist currently based in Gaborone, Botswana. Katso uses drawing, photography, digital collage and urban space research to explore personal experience(s) of displacement and its effects, memory and history in relation to place, as well as identity and belonging. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Botswana, 2020.
Her work is exploratory aiming to depict complexities in the history of art and architecture, and the general overlap that exists between the two disciplines, through a combination of colour, texture, philosophy, and symbolism. She describes her work as a history revival with an execution of work along the lines of abstract impressionism, simple yet complex. Sesame describes Architecture school as having contributed to her creative exploration process and a place she learnt essential art traditions and methods. Katso describes her work as one that is inspired by her need to marry two important aspects of her identity; “her being as an architect and artist.”
Boseatleng explores critical topics in architecture and art, primarily historic moments in art and architecture, heritage and culture and the concept of human memory and space interaction. This exploration is done by intense research tested and translated by sketches and artworks to interpret spaces; buildings, landscapes, aspects of human sensory including how we process thought, imagination, place associative memory, and how we interact with our surroundings. She strongly believes that Africans, particularly Batswana have distinctive, place specific and intimate ways of interpreting their surroundings. This exploration provokes a means to interpret the use of space, how we feel in a space and what that space means to us individually and collectively.
(b. 1996)
1. Van Gogh.
Medium: Colored pencil|Manila
Size: 420mm X 594mm
Themes: art history, resonance, revival, belonging
Description:
The artwork is an exploration of space and time in relation to the famous piece of work ‘the starring night’ by Vincent Van Gogh.
2. The Gaborone Main Mall.
Medium: Colored pencil|Manila
Size: 420mm X 594mm
Themes: urban space, time, supremantism, urban morphology
Description:
This artwork is an exploration of interpreting space. It draws inspiration from the works of Piet Mondrian and Kazimer Malevich, supremantism. The artwork seeks to express the mall down to its basic elements. Like Malevich, the artwork is limited to a few elements where the flat planes replaces volume, depth and perspective as a means of defining space.
3.
‘Wool Makes threads.’
Medium: Chalk|Matt black wall
Size: 3000mm X 3500mm
Themes: Community, experience, identity, self reflection, collaborative work
Description:
This is a collaborative piece of myself and a fellow artist in Botswana. We both recently completed our art residencies one after the other at the ARC Botswana. Through its intricate design, and cohesive storytelling, this mural becomes a dynamic testament to the power of collaboration, community, and meaningful creative experiences.Within its composition, it stitches in the artists’ distinct signature strokes and resonant techniques, forming an artistic tapestry that mirrors not only the artists’ evolution but also the growth nurtured by ARC and the artists’ status as alumni of the Artist in Residence program. Just as wool intertwines to yield threads, this mural knits together the vibrant threads of artistic identity, purposeful creation, and the effervescent spirit of collaboration.
4. Mondrian.
Medium: Colored pencil|Manila
Size: 420mm X 594mm
Themes: art history, resonance, revival, belonging
Description:
The artwork is an exploration of space, time and expression in relation to the famous work of Piet Mondrian during the rise of modernism- A new method of art expression ‘This new plastic idea, will ignore the particulars of appearance...
On the contrary, it should find its expression in the abstraction of form and color, that is, in the straight line and clearly defined primary color.’
5. Open Studio.
Human memoribilia: Symbols, elements, rituals
An artist’s thought process
Themes: placelessness, heritage, culture, belonging, landscapes, space, experience, rituals, symbols, elements, self discovery, identity
Medium: Colored pencil|Charcoal|Fine liners|Water colors
Description:
This is a body of work done during a 3 months artist residency at the Art residency center (ARC) Botswana. The residency ran from March-May 2023, at the end of which was an open studio (June 17th 2023).
Mabogo-Dinku.
Medium: Colored pencil|Manila
Size: 420mm X 594mm
Themes: Botho, unity, community, culture, identity
Description:
This artwork is inspired by the Setswana proverb ‘Mabogo-Dinku-aa-Thebana’which encapsules the spirit and beauty of collective effort, it is intended to be palpably felt—a testament to the power of art to encapsulate the essence of a timeless truth.
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7. Ko Setlhareng.
Medium: Charcoal|Manila paper|Wall
Size: Paper range A4-A3, Wall at 2000mm X 1500mm
Themes: heritage, flora and fauna, rememberance, revival, belonging, culture, landscapes
Description:
The artwork is a study of Batswana and their relationship with trees, considering their pivotal role in Tswana culture as symbols of shelter, social gathering places, and spiritual healing. Highlighting too, their fundamental role in the design of the Kgotla structure, an integral part of the Tswana settlement pattern.
HUMAN MEMORABILIA.
Medium: Fine linner|Tracing paper
Size: 297mm X 420mm
Themes: Botho, unity, community, culture, identity
Description:
This body of artworks acknowledges the significance of the naming system Batswana have formed for their trees while shedding light on the value of Tswana flora and fauna as an integral part of our cultural heritage, a point often overlooked by many. Through creative artistic expressions, I aimed to provoke thought and appreciation for this aspect. The exhibition showcased the trees and their names, exploring four thematic dimensions of symbolism: the circle as a symbol for trees, the ground line representing roots and belonging, people as spaces, and the naming system as a celebration of selected flora and fauna. The overall curation of the exhibition fostered an environment for learning and active engagement within the art community.
tion of selected flora and fauna.
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