Being a loner kid, books kept Segoete company and opened her eyes to the world, helped her make sense of her reality, helped her escape her reality, helped her dream. As Segoete grew older her inclination towards the arts did not wane, so she surrounded herself with kindred spirits and ultimately the arts community in Lesotho helped her find her voice, niche and a little bit of divine intervention too in the form of creative ancestors (friends gone too soon, as well as family).
What drives her to keep going?
Children.
Knowing the advantages come with literacy and creativity and how those advantages can help transform society. “For me, artistic expression gives hope and provides grounding. On my worst days, it’s the impact we have on people that keeps me going. It’s the promise I see in the faces of children we work with, and the interest people outside of Lesotho have taken in our history and our story that energize me to keep at it.”
Another key factor is that Segoete knows that contrary to stereotypes, artists are political, scientific, spiritual, critical, strategic and can be disciplined. So she is happy to be part of the collective of artists on the continent that constantly debunk and defy box definitions.
What legacy/mark does she want her work to leave?
Free, critical thinking.
An appreciation for play and youthfulness as essential to learning, and a passion to create, revive, preserve and spread knowledge.
Follow Lineo Segoete on Instagram and Facebook.
See the full list of 21 African Women Channeling New Narratives In The Creative Industry.
Gbemi Lolade Adekanmbi is the cultivator of For Creative Girls. She is a firm believer in the fact that there is no division between the ability for science and the ability for Art. Her goal is to cultivate this ability with as many people as possible and make creatives a living, breathing part of how the world, organisations, and societies run.
