Intraparadox, An Interview with Sello Letswalo. A New Perspective. PAM. 27 Feb 2026

To the familiar listener, the present interview may seem like a repeat of the processes engaged in the previous interview and correspondence I have had with Sello Letswalo, I hope isn’t. While in a sense it may initially relate the foundation for Lestwalo’s biographical details in terms of the beginning of his pedagogy and art practice, aspects which were covered earlier in my work on this artist, it differs starkly with those works in that it attempts to excavate and reassert Letswalo’s iconography. Or pointedly, it is a continuation of the latter. Iconographic evaluation of any artist’s work ought to show the dynamic nature of an art practice in the hands of a full-time art practitioner. Anyone who has followed Sello Letswalo’s career as a fine artist closely, they would, by now, noted a revelation of a new direction in the artist’s work in terms of his subject matter.

In my earlier encounter with the artist there was a focus on the surface medium of his practice, steel, see Intraparadox, Sello Letswalo, a hexagonical experience. A follow-up enquiry zeroed in on the prevalent subject matter in Letswalo’s work, which at that point was the Cow seen through the lens of veneration as a totem, see Intraparadox, An Interview with Sello Letswalo, O’ Foreman. This dual considerations, provides entry points into reaching an understanding of what Letswalo as an artist is preoccupied with, but also how that vision is manifest to us.

Letswalo’s entry in the SASOL New Signatures Visual Art Competition 2025 saw him enter works that depicted Mapantsula, a South African sub-culture. Though the surface media has remain the same, I observe this as a divergent point in what we have seen of recent from him, thematically wise. This thematic shift is the focus of the present interception.

---

Featured Work

---

List of figures

Figure 1. Letswalo, Sello. Madishong (2022). Mixed media on treated steel sheet. 111 x66 cm.

Figure 2. Letswalo, Sello. Mmakgomo: The seeds of continuity, woman as pillars of heritage (2024). Mixed media on treated steel sheet. 53 x 64,5 cm.

Figure 3. Letswalo, Sello. Mmakgomo: African identity and role of the woman (2023). Oil on reclaimed steel
40,5 cm x 32,5 cm.

Figure 4. Letswalo, Sello. Mapantsula (2025). Acrylic and oil on reclaimed steel
74,5 cm x 123 cm.

Figure 5. Letswalo, Sello. Red Rose (2025). Oil on steel. 77 x 74cm.

---

+All images of artworks featured on this blogpost have been used with permission of the artist and may not be re-used without consent of the artist.

++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 or artists.

---

To reference this text & audio documentation please cite:

Kgokong, M.A. 2026.  Intraparadox, An Interview with Sello Letswalo, A New Perspective.AmbientMIX . Mmutleak.com-Intraparadox.

---

Winter

31 May

© mmutle arthur kgokong 2026