Makoba’s artworks bring together expressive portraits, community scenes, and recurring imagery of trees to create thoughtful reflections on identity, belonging, and human connection. His layered use of charcoal, pastel, acrylic, and printmaking techniques gives his works a distinctive combination of realism and expressive energy. Trees often become central visual elements, representing roots, family structures, growth, and the passing of knowledge between generations. Through these symbolic landscapes and intimate depictions of people, Makoba creates works that connect personal experience with broader stories of community, history, education, and hope.
Ramarutha Makoba is recognised for his expressive figurative works exploring family, community, history, and the relationship between people and their surroundings. His earlier works often depict everyday people and children within township and urban environments, while trees have become a defining motif within his more recent practice. For Makoba, trees serve as metaphors for family, growth, knowledge, and the connections that sustain communities. His use of charcoal, pastel, acrylic, and printmaking techniques allows him to combine detailed figurative imagery with vibrant colour and expressive mark-making.
Makoba has exhibited extensively in South Africa through both solo and group exhibitions. His exhibition history includes the District Six 50th Commemoration Print Exchange and Group Exhibition, exhibitions at Seosame Gallery, David Krut Art Gallery and Lizamore Gallery, as well as his solo exhibition Change The World. In 2020, he presented Born in Soweto at Gallery 2 in Johannesburg, a body of work reflecting on the history of the Soweto uprising alongside his own experiences growing up in the township. His work has also been featured in exhibitions including See Art: Contemporary Drawing, Winter Show: Moments, and Uniting the Ink: The Printing Girls (and Boys).
Ramarutha Makoba is recognised for his expressive figurative works exploring family, community, history, and the relationship between people and their surroundings. His earlier works often depict everyday people and children within township and urban environments, while trees have become a defining motif within his more recent practice. For Makoba, trees serve as metaphors for family, growth, knowledge, and the connections that sustain communities. His use of charcoal, pastel, acrylic, and printmaking techniques allows him to combine detailed figurative imagery with vibrant colour and expressive mark-making.
Makoba has exhibited extensively in South Africa through both solo and group exhibitions. His exhibition history includes the District Six 50th Commemoration Print Exchange and Group Exhibition, exhibitions at Seosame Gallery, David Krut Art Gallery and Lizamore Gallery, as well as his solo exhibition Change The World. In 2020, he presented Born in Soweto at Gallery 2 in Johannesburg, a body of work reflecting on the history of the Soweto uprising alongside his own experiences growing up in the township. His work has also been featured in exhibitions including See Art: Contemporary Drawing, Winter Show: Moments, and Uniting the Ink: The Printing Girls (and Boys).
“Whatever you do as a person, always look at your past as well as your future.”
