Cape Town’s art scene is having a busy moment, with exhibitions, festivals and new work appearing across the city.
Adding to that cultural calendar is Sesethu Xhosana’s latest exhibition, “UMHLATSHELO — Threads of Hope: Who Really Gets to Dream?”, opening this weekend at Dac on Dorp in the Bo-Kaap.
The Artist-in-Residence exhibition brings together textiles, fashion, painting, mixed media and participatory experiences, looking at what we inherit from family, circumstance and society — and what we can choose to change.
Xhosana is a multidisciplinary visual artist, fashion designer and therapeutic art community practitioner originally from the Eastern Cape, who grew up in KwaZulu-Natal and is now based in Johannesburg.
She is also the founder of Xhanti Couture, a sustainable fashion brand that transforms reclaimed and offcut textiles into garments and wearable art.
For Xhosana, the thread running through the exhibition is the connection between dreaming and doing.
“For me, the thread in 'UMHLATSHELO' represents the dream, while intentionality is the offering. I believe it is not enough to have dreams, we have to apply ourselves to them,” she said.
That idea extends beyond individual ambition. Xhosana sees the dreams of young people as potentially offering solutions to problems within their communities, making dreaming an act of responsibility rather than simply personal aspiration.
Motherhood has sharpened that thinking for her, particularly around what we leave behind for the next generation.
“Motherhood is a particularly important part of this for me because becoming a mother changed everything about how I see the world. It made me deeply aware of the tracks we leave behind and what our children will eventually inherit from us,” she said.
It has also shown her that becoming does not happen alone.
Xhosana points to the friend currently caring for her child for a month while she works on the exhibition as an example of the often unseen support that allows women to pursue their ambitions.
“That, too, is womanhood for me. It is not only about what we individually achieve; it is about how we make one another’s becoming possible,” she said.
Her time at Dac on Dorp reinforced that belief. The women she encountered in the Bo-Kaap offered practical support, from helping her source materials to sharing knowledge about the neighbourhood.
One woman even told her that when she has leftover food, she places it beside a wall rather than in the bin so that people searching for food do not have to dig through rubbish to find something to eat.
For Xhosana, these seemingly small gestures speak to a larger idea of womanhood.
“Womanhood, for me, is deeply connected to Ubuntu and community,” she said. “It is about community, care, dignity and holding space for one another.”
Healing is another thread woven through the exhibition. Drawing on her work with therapeutic art and trauma-informed principles, Xhosana believes art can give people space to process their experiences, recognise themselves and imagine beyond what has happened to them.
The exhibition also includes two participatory garments, through which visitors will use cognitive reframing to challenge limiting beliefs and reconsider how they identify themselves.
Ultimately, Xhosana hopes “UMHLATSHELO” reminds young people that the dreams they carry may belong to more than just themselves.
“We don’t dream only for ourselves. We dream, we work and we build because someone else may inherit what we create,” she says.
“Your dream is the thread. Your intentionality is the offering - Umhlatshelo. And your becoming is the reward.”
“UMHLATSHELO — Threads of Hope: Who Really Gets to Dream?” takes place on Saturday, September 5, from 2pm to 4pm at Dac on Dorp.
bernelee.vollmer@nationalmg.co.za