[w]hispers of What Was (2025), the latest installation by Lerato Motaung which was on show at the Constitutional Hill, Women’s Jail from 05 April to 31 May 2025 continues his quest to deal with memory and its residues. I was fortunate to see the exhibition with him just before its closure. Unlike the previous project, Traces in the Still Air (2024), wherein the artist utilised tires and broken glasses as a homage to his childhood memories and to his grandmother in particular.
In Whispers of What Was (2025) he opted to deploy granite stones and wooden sleighs to drive a meditation once more on memory albeit as a conduit to reconnect with his family’s affinity to the mining industry. What emerges in this kenna mang discourse that the installation erects is not the dark side that is connected to an industry that has changed the face of the earth since time immemorial, but an affirmation of the self and a probe into what defines who we are.

---

Winter

16 June

© Mmutle Arthur Kgokong, 2025

Reference credits

*Graphics for this blog post teaser poster was created by Mmutle Arthur Kgokong.

+The audio version of this interview, encountered in version .AmbientMix remains the property of Mmutle Arthur Kgokong except where his name appears alongside that of a featured artist/s or featured guest in the reference statement.

++As always a special thanks to the artist Lerato Motaung for availing himself for this edition of the pod to talk to about the genesis of Whispers of What Was (2025) and its multiferous meanings. Ditebogo tse di tletseng.

---

To reference this audio documentation please cite:

Kgokong, M.A. 2025. Intraparadox, Interview with Lerato Motaung. Whispers of What Was. 31 June 2025. Mmutleak.com-Intraparadox.

---