Encountering Ramothibedi, the accompanying label reveals itself lacking. ‘Mixed media on paper’ might do for the coincidence of established mediums – watercolour, oil stick, pastel, etc. – on a shared substrate, but here says nothing of the artist’s material dexterity. The label would perhaps better include a more exhaustive list: assorted studio detritus, sketches torn from a notebook, facsimiles, packaging tape, biro, glue or varnish, words and phrases. Among the texts written in sloping script, the name ‘Ramothibedi’ is repeated, as are the phrases ‘Le bonheur qui se t’ai donne’ (The happiness that was given to you) and ‘Contre ma volonté’ (Against my will). In block letters, partially obscured, ‘PASSION FRUIT’ is inscribed in white paint; a pencil drawing of two figures – adult and child – accompanied by the caption ‘Rolling Stone’. The texts, taken together, afford no clarity, performing as obscure coordinates significant only to the artist. “There were too many stimuli at once, and everything was slippery. I needed something to ground myself…” Langa said of his notetaking in a conversation towards You to Me, Me to You, an exhibition in A4’s Gallery. “Shorthand became the material for me to make sense of my world.” 

Included in Ramothibedi’s collaged elements are traces towards a later series of untitled, greyscale works (all 2004) composed of cut-out eyes photocopied from magazines and newspapers. Five of these were featured in Moshekwa Langa | How to make a book, an exhibition and bookmaking process at A4 that drew a selection of the artist’s work into proximity. Seen together, the two modes of making offer insight into the generative spillage that occurs between Langa’s works and the accumulative form of their compositions.