Vela Projects is proud to present It’s Not Going to Get Better, the first solo exhibition by Botswana-born photographer Thero Makepe at the gallery.
This poignant body of work examines the realities of contemporary Botswana in the context of global political shifts, focusing on the 2024 Botswana General Elections. The exhibition opens 13 December 2024 and runs until 25 January 2025 at Vela Projects in Cape Town.
Created in the lead-up to the 2024 elections, this series reflects the angst and disillusionment of Botswana’s youth. It interrogates the country’s pressing issues, including corruption, economic inequality, and social exclusion, which have significantly eroded public trust in civil society.
The title, It’s Not Going to Get Better, inspired by Billy Woods’ rap song “Remorseless,” examines themes of nihilism, classism, and existentialism. Employing a constructed tableau-based photographic approach, Makepe merges elements of fiction and documentary to convey the pervasive social dread and marginalization experienced within contemporary society.
While Makepe’s images depict personal struggles, they are deeply collaborative, featuring family and friends as subjects and co-creators. As he explains, “Whether highly staged or rooted in reality, my images are conduits for broader social contexts in Botswana, reflecting social class, gender, or age.”
We are participants and bystanders at the same time. There’s also the conundrum of being concerned about international affairs while ignoring the pertinent issues right in front of you.
The exhibition takes on new urgency following Botswana’s historic 2024 elections, which saw the ruling party of 58 years unseated from power. Against this backdrop, It’s Not Going to Get Better is further said to offer a prescient meditation on the complexities of political and social transformation.
