History is often told through political events, public figures and national milestones. Thero Makepe approaches it differently.
In We Didn’t Choose to Be Born Here, on view at Javett Art Centre at the University of Pretoria from 14 May 2026 to 13 June 2027, the Botswana-born artist turns to family photographs, personal archives and reconstructed scenes to explore how larger political histories are experienced through individual lives.
The exhibition centres on Makepe’s own family story, tracing connections between Botswana and South Africa across generations marked by migration, activism, separation and resilience.
One branch of the family sought refuge from apartheid South Africa in Botswana. Another remained directly involved in the struggle against apartheid. Through photography, archival material and staged portraits, Makepe brings these histories into conversation, revealing how political decisions made decades ago continue to echo through family memory today.
Rather than presenting a linear historical account, the artist constructs a layered visual narrative where personal stories sit alongside national histories. Documentary photographs exist alongside carefully staged images and re-enactments, creating a body of work that moves between memory, research and imagination.
The exhibition takes its title from a phrase that emerged repeatedly within family conversations during moments of uncertainty and reflection: We Didn’t Choose to Be Born Here. It speaks to circumstances inherited rather than chosen, while also raising broader questions about identity, belonging and the historical forces that shape our lives.
A significant thread running through the exhibition is the relationship between activism and family legacy. Makepe reflects not only on the experiences of earlier generations but also on his own involvement in the #FeesMustFall movement while studying at the University of Cape Town. In doing so, the work creates a dialogue between different eras of political resistance and asks how ideas of justice, freedom and responsibility are passed from one generation to the next.
Despite engaging with histories of displacement, imprisonment and political struggle, the exhibition is not defined by loss alone. Throughout the work there is an emphasis on continuity, kinship and survival. Family photographs, shared memories and personal archives become evidence of connections that have endured despite borders, distance and time.
This presentation marks the first institutional exhibition of an ongoing project that has already attracted international attention. Yet what makes We Didn’t Choose to Be Born Here particularly affecting is not its historical scope, but its intimacy. Makepe reminds us that history is never entirely abstract. It is carried through families, remembered in stories, and lived through the people who inherit its consequences.
The result is a deeply personal exhibition that offers a thoughtful reflection on migration, memory and the enduring ties between family history and the political landscapes that shape it.
