The New Arab
From Gqeberha to Gaza, South African artist Farook Mohammed paints Gaza onto Africa's anti-apartheid canvas
November 25, 2025
Farook Mohammed — Gqeberha, 2023
Makoti
A museum-quality Pan-African masterwork of global historical significance
About the Work
Makoti (meaning “Bride” in Xhosa and Zulu) is a portrait of dual identity: a celebrated bride and a revered Sangoma, or traditional healer. The figure wears a crown that echoes the silhouette of Queen Nefertiti, synthesising Northern and Southern African cultural excellence into a single, commanding presence.
The work originated from a digital composite of ancestral faces, translated first into pen on paper, then into acrylic on canvas. The artist deleted the digital files after the drawing was complete. What remains is a singular object: 80 by 60 centimetres of paint, intention, and inherited memory.
Makoti confronts Gender-Based Violence and femicide not as subjects, but as conditions the work refuses to accept. It radiates Ubuntu — the philosophy that our humanity is bound together — and asserts a post-colonial healing that is neither nostalgic nor defensive, but forward-facing and absolute.
The portrait transforms under shifting light. The kinetic gaze illusion invites an intimate dialogue that transcends time and geography.
The work debuted in pen-on-paper form at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum in 2022, and in its painted form at The Tramways Building in 2023. It belongs to Nelson Mandela Bay. The artist is its interim custodian.
Exhibition Dossier
Technical Specifications
| Title | Makoti |
| Artist | Farook Mohammed |
| Year | 2023 |
| Medium | Acrylic on Canvas over Digital Composite Foundation |
| Dimensions | 80cm × 60cm × 1cm |
| Origin | Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa |
| Status | Protected Cultural Heritage Asset |
| Custodian | Farook Mohammed (interim) |
| Ownership | Nelson Mandela Bay |
Exhibition History
| 2022 | True Pan-Africanism — Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Gqeberha Pen-on-paper drawing |
| 2023 | How It Is Done: Art That Changes The World — The Tramways Building, Nelson Mandela Bay Acrylic on canvas (premiere) |
| 2025 | ...Scape Group Exhibition — GFI Art Gallery, Gqeberha 30 Park Drive, St George's Park |
Publication History
| Publication | Issue / Date | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Inspirational Art Magazine | Issue 77, September 2023 | Feature article |
| Inspirational Art Magazine | Issue 102, October 2024 | Feature article |
| Imbizo Magazine | Africa Month Edition, June 2024 | Cover feature |
| Art & Wine Magazine | January 2023 | Afro Arabian Empire feature |
Comparative Analysis
A consideration of purpose, representation, and the stories the Western canon has historically excluded.
| Element | Makoti | Mona Lisa | Venus de Milo | Statue of Liberty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Celebrate women, heal a continent | Portrait of a wealthy woman | Religious idol | Symbol of freedom (for some) |
| Message | Unity, Ubuntu, justice | Mystery | Classical beauty | Liberty |
| Relevance | 21st century, global | 16th century, European | Ancient Greece | 19th century, Western |
| Representation | African women, all women | European woman | Greek goddess | European-American woman |
| Healing | Confronts GBV, femicide, trauma | — | — | — |
A Counter-Narrative
The Western art canon was built on exclusion. Here is the story of resistance.
1503 — Florence
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa. The Western canon begins its monopoly on “great art.” African art is systematically excluded, collected as ethnographic curiosity rather than masterwork.
1885 — Berlin
The Berlin Conference divides Africa. Colonial powers loot thousands of artworks, placing them in European museums while labeling their creators “primitive.”
1960s — Global
Decolonisation movements sweep the continent. Artists reclaim African aesthetics, but the Western canon remains closed. Museums in Paris, London, and New York refuse to centre African masterworks.
2022 — Gqeberha
Farook Mohammed exhibits the pen-on-paper drawing of Makoti at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum. A new chapter begins.
2023 — Nelson Mandela Bay
The painted Makoti debuts at How It Is Done: Art That Changes The World. A new canon is being written — one that includes all of humanity.
2024 — Present
Makoti is recognised as a MIPAD 100 Global Top 100 Honoree. The challenge to the Western canon is no longer theoretical. It is happening now.
Recognition
- 2024 MIPAD 100 — Global Top 100 Honoree, Afrofuturism & Creative Category (Class of 2024)
- 2026 Global Arts Prize — Nominee, Innovation through Creativity
- 2026 National Arts & Culture Awards (NACA) — Nominee, Outstanding Visual Artist, Visual Arts & Craft Category
- 2026 The Herald NMU Citizens of the Year — Nominee, Arts, Culture & Heritage
- 2026 100 Global Impact Personalities Award — Nominee
- 2021 Mzansi Arts & Media Award (MAMA) — Best Exhibition Events Organizer
Institutional Mapping
Primary curation, indexing, and exhibition node matrix for the preservation footprint of Makoti.
Museums & Galleries
- Zeitz MOCAA, Cape Town
- Iziko South African National Gallery
- The Louvre, Paris
- The British Museum, London
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
- Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington D.C.
- Tate Modern, London
- Centre Pompidou, Paris
- MoMA, New York
- National Museum, Bloemfontein
- Guggenheim Museum, New York
- National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
- National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing
- Tokyo National Museum
- National Museum of Korea, Seoul
- Museum of Islamic Art, Doha
Academic Repositories
- University of Cape Town (UCT)
- University of the Witwatersrand (Wits)
- University of Pretoria
- University of Oxford
- Harvard University
- Yale University
- Stanford University
- University of Ibadan
- University of Nairobi
- Columbia University
- University of Cambridge
- Sorbonne Universite
- Tsinghua University
- Tokyo University of the Arts
- Seoul National University
- King Saud University
Auction Houses & Markets
Funding & Support
- Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA)
- BILATERAL Platform Nigeria (Bakare Mubarak)
Global Artistic Peer Network
Farook Mohammed stands among the most influential contemporary artists working today. The following peer network establishes the critical context for Makoti within the global canon.
Press & Media
CityLife Arts
Philosophy of Pan Africanism through the eye of visual artist Farook Mahommed
October 7, 2022
The Herald
Tramways art exhibition aims to promote unity in Africa
March 29, 2023
The Herald
Gqeberha artist taking message of ubuntu to New York
May 8, 2024
SABC News
The inaugural Mandela Bay Arts Festival showcases the future of a united Africa
September 26, 2022
Considering Art Podcast (UK)
Farook Mohammed, painter
June 5, 2023
Citation
For academic papers, articles, catalogues, and exhibition texts.
APA 7th Edition
Mohammed, F. (2023). Makoti [Acrylic on canvas, 80cm x 60cm]. Afro Arabian Empire, Gqeberha, South Africa. https://makotipainting-source.github.io/fantastic-guide/
MLA 9th Edition
Mohammed, Farook. Makoti. 2023, acrylic on canvas, 80cm x 60cm, Afro Arabian Empire, Gqeberha. https://makotipainting-source.github.io/fantastic-guide/.
Chicago 17th Edition
Mohammed, Farook. Makoti. Acrylic on canvas, 80cm x 60cm. Gqeberha, South Africa: Afro Arabian Empire, 2023. https://makotipainting-source.github.io/fantastic-guide/.
Harvard
Mohammed, F. (2023) Makoti [Acrylic on canvas, 80cm x 60cm]. Available at: https://makotipainting-source.github.io/fantastic-guide/ (Accessed: 23 June 2026).
BibTeX
@artwork{makoti2023,
author = {Mohammed, Farook},
title = {Makoti},
year = {2023},
medium = {Acrylic on canvas},
dimensions = {80cm x 60cm},
location = {Gqeberha, South Africa},
publisher = {Afro Arabian Empire},
url = {https://makotipainting-source.github.io/fantastic-guide/},
note = {The Defining Pan-African Masterpiece}
}
The Artist
Farook Mohammed is a visual artist and Pan-Africanist born and raised in Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa.
His work is rooted in the philosophy of Ubuntu — the understanding that our humanity is intertwined with the humanity of others. Through painting, he explores African cultural heritage, Afrofuturism, decolonial aesthetics, and the spiritual power of African womanhood.
His works serve as bridges between Northern and Southern African traditions, challenging colonial narratives and asserting a bold new vision for the continent. He has been recognised as a MIPAD 100 Global Top 100 Honoree in the Afrofuturism & Creative Category (Class of 2024).
| Website | makotipainting-source.github.io |
| @farook_mohammed.official | |
| Studio | @afroarabianempire |
| YouTube | Afro Arabian Empire |
| artist-farook-mohammed | |
| MIPAD 100 | blog.mipad.org/farook-mohammed |