When Childhood Becomes An Archive

Before screens and smartphones, there was dust, laughter and imagination. InA Re Tshamekeng, artist Loretta Mekgwe turns childhood play into a striking visual archive of memory, culture and the quiet magic of growing up Some memories don’t live in photo albums. They live in the rhythm of a game, the scratch of a stick on the ground, or the quiet imagination of a child inventing worlds.

That’s the spirit behindA Re Tshamekeng, a nostalgic art series by artist Loretta Mekgwe that transforms childhood play into minimalist digital drawings. Using restrained black-and-white line work, Mekgwe captures fleeting moments of African communal life — children crouched over games, afternoons of laughter, and the small rituals that quietly shape identity. The drawings are simple, almost whisper-like.

But inside them lives a whole universe of memory. For Mekgwe, the inspiration isn’t theoretical. It’s personal.

[paywall]

Growing up, she remembers the games —koi,skontibolo, and the timeless choreography of children negotiating teams and rules on dusty playgrounds. But she also remembers something else: being the quiet observer. “At school I was usually the reserve, sitting on the floor waiting to be picked by a team,” she told Time Out.

Often left out of the action, she found her own way into the moment — sketching figures in the soil while others played. Those small acts of observation became the emotional blueprint forA Re Tshamekeng. She recalls building imaginary worlds with wire cars and even playing games likediketoalone, inventing rhythms where none existed. In an age where childhood increasingly unfolds through screens, Mekgwe believes these everyday rituals deserve preservation.

[/paywall]