Born in Mokwallo, Vredefort in 1985, Baba Tjeko is a multi-disciplinary South African artist. Drawn to traditional Basotho design styles as well as modern imagery, Tjeko works with techniques such as printmaking, painting, graphic design, and illustration to create layered, multifaceted artworks. He is recognised for reimagining the Basotho art form Ditema, derived from the Sesotho “ho lema” meaning “to cultivate”—a style primarily practised historically by women in Lesotho and the Free State.

While studying Creative Multimedia at the National Electronic Media Institute of South Africa (NEMISA), a third-year project inspired Tjeko to reconnect with his Basotho heritage and research his cultural background. He discovered that the Ditema art tradition was fading. Inspired to preserve this vital part of his identity, he set out to rework and reinterpret Ditema within a contemporary framework. Tjeko observed that while many were familiar with Ndebele art, far fewer knew of Ditema. Rather than simply replicating the tradition, he considered its modern relevance—retaining its characteristic colour schemes, tonal qualities, and geometric motifs—while adapting it to continue its legacy in a contemporary landscape.

Tjeko’s dynamic and striking visual language has attracted the attention of numerous brands and has collaborated with various partners, notably MINI Cooper in 2019, contributing to the design of the South African MINI Clubman—the Modern African Gentlemen edition. In 2021, he partnered with Nespresso for their World Exploration Coffee Campaign, helping conceptualise the city of Cape Town as packaging for their ‘Evino Lungo’ coffee, integrating interpreted elements of the Mother City.

For his new collection, Tjeko presents a series of collage-style compositions, once again integrating his interpretation of the Ditema aesthetic while merging it with additional visual elements to produce expansive, intricate, and bold paintings. Deeply influenced by imagery—both archival and current—Tjeko constructs a dialogue between historical and contemporary visual cultures. He highlights this contrast by juxtaposing black-and-white photographs with vivid, digitally inspired images. It is fitting that while reinventing Ditema for the present moment, he finds himself caught between and trying to reconcile the space between past and future, increasingly drawn to archival materials and family photo albums, while also incorporating the visual cues of the digital age. Tjeko expresses a fascination with the simplicity of earlier eras and is captivated by the power of a captured moment. He honours the passage of time and human mortality by working with antique imagery that memorialises those who have passed.

With his background in graphic design, Tjeko remains acutely aware of composition. Drawing on principles he learned in advertising—using visual elements to sell, provoke, or capture attention—he constructs pieces that resonate immediately. For him, a strong composition can captivate at a glance, and images, even without explanatory context, carry deep emotional weight. In this new body of work, he leans into that resonance, crafting narrative and inquiry through layered visuals.

Tjeko is interested in the immediacy of images, which impacts both his creative process and final work, forming the basis for his inspiration and affecting his artwork’s ability to stand independently. He believes a powerful piece can stir a reaction before the viewer has time to intellectually dissect it, encouraging people to feel first and reflect afterward. His process begins with images—or the ideas of them. Bombarded by the noise and visual stimuli of urban life, even his moments of retreat—scrolling on his phone—bring a fresh onslaught of images. His method includes watching documentaries, meditating on specific visuals, and reading both fiction and pictorial books that tell stories he connects with, as he continues his exploration of how to “read images.”