Balekane Legoabe (b.1995) is a South African artist, curator, illustrator and motion designer based in Johannesburg. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in visual communication with a specialisation in illustration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in film arts with a specialisation in motion design. Balekane has taken part in several group exhibitions around South Africa, and was the recipient of the 2019 StateoftheART gallery award for emerging artists. She has work in the following public collections: William Humphreys Gallery, Kimberely, South Africa and Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany. Her work explores the concept of liminality in relation to emotional states.

She is particularly fascinated by the notion of ambivalence.

Artist Statement: “Thank you for making me feel safe”

An experimental body of work where, for the most part, creative inhibition lay dormant. The sun, the moon, the trees, the flowers, the grass, the plants, the animals, those long gone and those still here today, all flowed out of me. This body of work is dedicated to that one tree in my neighbourhood that I always hug when nobody’s looking: thank you for holding my hand. Thank you for making me feel safe.