MATTERS OF THE ART: Dyslexic artist Lerato Motau found her own voice when words failed her

Diagnosed with dyslexia as a teenager, Soweto-born fabric and textile artist Lerato Motau has reframed a neurodivergent learning barrier into a powerful tool for visual storytelling.

A lack of traditional literacy does not mean a lack of intelligence or capability, says Motau, but she travelled a long, hard road to find her fire after struggling at school, failing Grade 8 and battling perceptions that she was lazy and stupid.

Motau has had multiple solo exhibitions in South Africa and her work is housed in major international galleries and has been shown in Beijing, Canada, Australia, India, the UK, Switzerland and Austria. Her 17m-long installation, Fabric of the Universe, which bridges cosmic and microscopic themes, is permanently housed at The Leonardo in Sandton – monumental proof of what a dyslexic mind can create.

“Sadly, dyslexia still remains a stigma,” says Motau, who battled with spelling and reading in the foundation phase of her schooling. She grew up when dyslexia wasn’t fully understood or accommodated and became stuck in a cycle of institutional misunderstanding.

One of her earliest stand-out memories was when a teacher told her grandfather: “You must teach your granddaughter to read.” Motau recalls how she thought: “I’m not going to be able to do this.” It planted a seed of doubt in her mind that would follow her through much of her early education.

She failed Grade 4 and had to repeat it, and recalls thinking: “These things that I’m writing with the wrong spelling, if I was given an opportunity to say them orally, I’d know them.” But the school couldn’t offer the support she needed.

As an artistically inclined child, the only subject Motau found joy in during this time was needlework. Although she was very good at it, the trauma of not performing well in academics continued to affect her. In high school, things didn’t get any easier. She failed Grade 8 three times before anyone realised something was wrong.

Formally diagnosed with dyslexia at 16, teachers advised her to leave the mainstream schooling system and her mother decided to enrol her at the Johannesburg Art Foundation, run by Bill Ainslie. Motau obtained her diploma in 1998.

At the art school, she learned to stand up for herself. “I asked to be given written exams orally. I started talking about it and it became my main strength in surviving dyslexia.”

Motau says her art became the alternative to the written words that once alienated her in school. She uses heavily textured fibres, paint and embroidery to speak.

“My work represents me as a person because I am able to speak my journey of dyslexia using visual perception as communication – no words, but a story that speaks volumes.”

Her physical interaction with fabric is a form of therapy. Every intricate loop, tuft and needle stroke is an intentional act of self-repair. “When you use your hands, it becomes authentic. It’s like I am stitching my wounds, and it represents me as a person telling my story.”

Rather than hiding her neurodiversity, she places it at the centre of her art. Motau has curated and participated in specific solo and group shows, such as Dyslexia Through an Artist’s Eye, to encourage galleries, collectors and viewers to confront their preconceptions about neurodivergence.

She frequently uses her gallery openings and artist talks to challenge the myth that dyslexia is an intellectual disability, reframing it instead as a different way of thinking.

Motau has passed down her creative resilience to her two daughters, one of whom is also dyslexic and works alongside her as a fashion design student. Through her Lerato Motau Studios, she hosts fundraising initiatives and garment auctions to help disadvantaged learners access educational psychologists. DM

See her work on Instagram at @leratomotaustudios; her studio in Soweto forms part of a tour – check out www.touratraveltherapy.com

Bridget Hilton-Barber is a freelance writer who writes for Jozi My Jozi.

This story first appeared in our weekly DM168 newspaper, available countrywide for R39. The e-edition of DM168 is now free for readers who are signed into their Daily Maverick account. Click on the cover of the newspaper below to access the e-edition.