In 2018, in an attempt to understand what was happening in the 1960s and 1970s in the history of our country’s art history, I was privilege to have the opportunity to sit down with one of the surviving artists from that era who based in Tshwane, Isaac ‘Sir Ike’ Nkoana. The publication of this interview comes out of a personal struggle to balance who Ntate ‘Sir Ike’ Nkoana is in South African art history and his contribution. It remains an ongoing meditation. The interview was conducted in a *Sesotho dialect-variant particular to Tshwane. The minimal exchange in English it is at the artist bidding. While I acknowledge that as a result of the language used during the interview, the material may be locked to researchers who are not familiar with Sesotho language. Its translation presents a challenge as well, specifically in the retention of the original crux that that the interview as an encounter establishes. Herein he charts his coming of age, artistic interest and the struggles that artists had to contend with during those decades. I remain indebted to Ntate Isaac ‘Sir Ike’ Nkoana for availing himself during that research period of my life.  

Reference credit

Opening of the soundtrack credits:

+All images featured on this site have been used with permission of the artist and may not be re-used without consent of the artist. **Graphics for the blog post teaser poster is property of Mmutle Arthur Kgokong.

++The audio version of this interview, encountered in version Speedball remains the property of Mmutle Arthur Kgokong except where his name appears alongside that of a featured artist or artists.

*The Sesotho dialect variant language, not to be confused with Sesotho spoken in Lesotho, spoken in Tshwane is a marriage between Sepedi, SeTswana and Sesotho.

---

To reference this text & audio documentation please cite:

Kgokong, M.A. 2021. Interview with Isaac Nkoana, Me and My Contemporaries 05.Sep.2018.Irie Ambient20XX1eD.1. Mmutleak.com-Intraparadox. https://mmutleak.com/2021/06/08/intraparadox-an-interview-with-isaac-sir-ike-nkoana/