Cgʼose Ntcoxʼo (sometimes Xhose Noxo), known as Cgoise (c. 1950 – October 6, 2013) was an artist from

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

. Ntcoxʼo was a member of the

Ncoakhoe Naro , also Nharo, is a Khoe language spoken in Ghanzi District of Botswana and in eastern Namibia. It is one of the most-spoken of the Tshu–Khwe languages. Naro is a trade language among speakers of different Khoe languages in Ghanzi Distric ...

people, speakers of the

Naro language Naro , also Nharo, is a Khoe language spoken in Ghanzi District of Botswana and in eastern Namibia. It is one of the most-spoken of the Tshu–Khwe languages. Naro is a trade language among speakers of different Khoe languages in Ghanzi Dist ...

, and was born in the

Ghanzi District Ghanzi (sometimes Gantsi) is a Districts of Botswana, district in western Botswana, bordering Namibia in the west and extending east into much of the interior of the country. The district's administrative centre is the town of Ghanzi. Most of the e ...

of Botswana. She was a member of the Kuru Art Project. In the early 1990s some of her work was shown in a gallery in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and seen by representatives of

British Airways British Airways plc (BA) is the flag carrier of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London, England, near its main Airline hub, hub at Heathrow Airport. The airline is the second largest UK-based carrier, based on fleet size and pass ...

, who decided to purchase one of her pieces and to use it as the basis for a design in their ethnic livery scheme. A representative for the airline traveled to Africa to see her; in her telling, she was handed "a piece of paper and told...to make a cross". Despite the fact that she was illiterate, this transaction was held to be binding and to have caused her to transfer the rights to her work. She received 12,000

pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

for her work. At the time her husband was ill with tuberculosis and her daughter was unemployed, and she was responsible for supporting a large family. During her career she collaborated with a group of other San artists from the Kuru Art Project on the publication of ''Qauqaua'', an

artists' book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that engage with and transform the form of a book. Some are mass-produced with multiple editions, some are published in small editions, while others are produced as one-of-a-kind ob ...

published in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

in 1996. In 1999 she was one of eight artists, four from the Kalahari and four from New Mexico, to participate in a cultural exchange with the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

in which they would create a suite of

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...

s upon the subject of

trickster In mythology and the study of folklore and religion, a trickster is a character in a story (god, goddess, spirit, human or anthropomorphisation) who exhibits a great degree of intellect or secret knowledge and uses it to play tricks or otherw ...

s in folklore. She is represented in the collections of the

Portland Museum of Art The Portland Museum of Art, or PMA, is the largest and oldest public art institution in Maine. Founded as the Portland Society of Art in 1882. It is located in the downtown area known as The Arts District in Portland, Maine. History The PMA use ...

and the city of

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

, which displays her lithograph ''Jujubu and Nxam Veldfood'' in its City and County Government Building. In 2004 her work appeared on a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

issued by Botswana, one of a set of four depicting works by contemporary artists; others represented in the set included Nxaedom Qhomatca and Qgoma Ncokgʼo. Late in life Ntcoxʼo was taken in by fellow artist

Coexʼae Qgam Coexʼae (sometimes Coinxʼae or Xwexae) Qgam, who worked under the name Dada (sometimes rendered as Dada Coexʼae Qgam) (1934–2008) was a Botswana artist, storyteller, and translator. A San people, Bushman, she was a member of the Ncoakhoe peop ...

, with whom she lived until the latter's death. Ntcoxʼo herself died of a stroke, leaving almost no estate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ntcoxʼo, Cgʼose Year of birth uncertain 1950s births 2013 deaths Botswana painters Botswana women painters 20th-century women artists 20th-century painters 20th-century printmakers Women printmakers San people People from Ghanzi District Botswana printmakers