Thato Toeba radiates the kind of cool that can’t be taught. In early August, the 35-year-old artist, lawyer, and researcher accepted the 2025 FNB Art Joburg Prize with a disarming flourish, quipping: “Thank you. I’ve prepared a rap song for today. Can you hit me with a beat?”
Born and based in Lesotho, Toeba’s story is as layered as their art. While they completed an LLM at Humboldt University, Berlin, in 2015, and are currently rounding off a two-year residency at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, it’s in the studio, not the courtroom, where Toeba commands the sharpest authority.
Working primarily in mixed-media photomontage and assemblage, their practice deftly stitches together fragments of identity, power, and history, creating richly textured, multi-dimensional narratives that question the present as much as they reframe the past.
Where do we find you creatively and emotionally?
I am optimistically exhausted.
Your all-time favourite places to eat?
I love Sakisi Hot Pot in Maseru, while Hakata Senpachi in Amsterdam is always a treat.
If money were no object, what would your dream buy be?
Time.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your work?
Finishing, standing back, and having that first look.
Your favourite small town?
My hometown — Maseru in Lesotho.
Your most treasured possession?
My family photographs.
What is a great gift you received recently?
The FNB art prize! And an “I love Jozi” T-shirt from a friend.
What does creativity mean to you?
Freedom.
The last travel destination that knocked your socks off?
Venice in summer.
Where do you find your greatest power?
In solitude. I like being by myself.
What are you reading/listening to at the moment?
Matter Mattering Matters: A Scienticity Reader, edited by Kabelo Malatsi and Lantian Xie, and besides Puleng; dontsaring and roving preoccupations by Simnikiwe Buhlungu. I am also always reading Sun of Consciousness by Édouard Glissant and have been listening to Moporofeta by Universal Khathisma Apostolic Church in Zion.
What makes you happiest?
Money, love, and making deadlines.
What’s occupying your artistic mind?
Photographs.
Your favourite clothing brands?
Falla, a fashion brand from Lesotho; Waffles & Cream, from Lagos; and the London-based label You Must Create.
What is the one indulgence you would never forgo?
Vinyl records.
Your favourite way to spend a Sunday morning?
Cleaning with gospel playing.
What is your ultimate luxury?
Cooking.
The most challenging aspect of your work in the past year?
Managing all the projects I said yes to.
What’s something you recently unlearned in your creative process?
The fear of fear. I’m learning that being scared is part of the process.
Spaces you always return to for inspiration?
In Amsterdam, Buro Stedelijk, a museum, and Afura Store, to look at clothes.
From the September edition of Wanted, 2025
