Waving the South African flag in Thursday's Google doodles – honouring female artists this international Women's Day – is Karabo Poppy Moletsane.
Born in Vereeniging and now based in Pretoria, she is an Afropolitan illustrator, a graphic designer, a brand ambassador for the Open Window Institute, and a self-professed historian.
Karabo has a BA in visual communication from the Open Window School of Visual Communication, which she uses to tell the South African story through her vibrant work.
Her theme for the doodle is "audacity", and it deals with the unexpected. Moletsane has introduced a woman into a traditional male ritual setting, called "Ntsoaki's Victory".
The gif, which will be on rotation for the whole day, tells the story of Ntsoaki‚ "who is destined to live counterculturally and asks to join the male coming-of-age-ritual of lion-wrestling".
The gif is beautifully drawn, reminiscent of cave art. It highlights how tenderness fuelled by audacity and confidence can be more powerful than brute force ever could.
While this is huge recognition for her, Moletsane's work is definitely not something new to the industry – she collaborated with Woolworths in its Valentine's Day campaign in February‚ raiding the Sandton City Woolworths shop front to create an artwork showing roses in ways you wouldn't expect to see them.
She has also done work for the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive‚ featuring massively scaled-up portraits of people she met on the streets of Johannesburg and Pretoria.
She produces visuals that are vibrant and energetic and which celebrate the beautiful mess of cultures found in South Africa.
Karabo's work can be viewed publicly at places like the Nike Football Training Centre in Soweto and Zoo Lake's basketball courts. She has also been featured in the music video for French singer-songwriter Jain's song "Makeba", which is a colourful explosion of South African talent.
Halala, Karabo!✊🏽