A pictorial response to certain witchcraft beliefs within Northern Sotho communities

Baholo, Keresemose Richard

A pictorial response to certain witchcraft beliefs within Northern Sotho communities

Master Thesis

1994

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Michaelis School of Fine Art

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

This study focuses on stories of witchcraft within the Batlokwa - a sub-group of the Northern Sotho community living in the northern Transvaal. Having grown up in this society where witchcraft beliefs are predominant, my fears, as a child, of witches were very real. In later life I have attempted to ignore these fears. However, I do not think they will ever disappear entirely, as I will never be able to extricate myself from my origins. This experience of the dangerous witch is one of the reasons that compelled me to respond pictorially to some of these perceptions for the purpose of highlighting the concerns of ordinary people and the extent to which they have been affected by belief in witchcraft. My paintings are a translation of real and unreal incidents fused together producing a visual narrative.