Trio exhibition to celebrate Okavango Delta
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Sunday July 10, 2022 06:00
The exhibition billed for The Space Botswana Art Gallery and Creative Hub at Matlapana, Maun is scheduled to run from July 13 to August 11. The event will be held under the theme: ‘Artistic Reflection of the Delta and its People’.
One of the exhibitors, Chisenga said the artists have been working tirelessly since the beginning of the year to have a solid oil painting collection for the mega exhibition.
He also said the exhibition will reflect on the way of life of people in the area surrounding the delta. “We are going to take the attendants, more especially tourists in the area, on our lifestyle in the delta through the oil paintings.
Starting with our indigenous food known as tswii and mode of transport on the delta through canoes known as mekoro in our native language,” said the talented oil paint artist.
Chisenga also shared that the purpose of the exhibition is to educate communities about the importance of visual arts and the significance they can bring to lives and the economy. He explained that most of the people do painting as a hobby but all of the exhibitors survive on paint in order to put food on the table for their families.
The artists find inspiration in people, wildlife and the Okavango Delta landscape surrounding them, as seen in the upcoming exhibition. Chisenga is a realist painter based in Maun, and was born in Zambia 29 years ago.
He started drawing at the age of five years and his drawing was mostly influenced by the Okavango Delta. The self-taught artist specialises mostly in oil paintings on canvas and this is evident through his famous paintings of the canoe as he depicts local scenes in the nearby Okavango Delta. Molebatsi, on the other hand, was born in 1993 in Gaborone.
He is also a self-taught artist who draws inspiration from great artists such as David Leffel and Rembrandt. In his idle time, Molebatsi likes experimenting with different mediums such as photography but his work composes mostly of portrait paintings with local people and African wildlife as his subjects. Lastly, Brown is an award winning artist, living and painting in Botswana, Africa. His art has been bought and collected by people from all over the globe. Brown enjoys using pen, pencil, water colour and acrylics but paints predominantly in oils.
The gifted artist started to take a keen interest in drawing and painting when he was about 10-years-old. He lived in a family that preferred living in remote wilderness areas, which nurtured his love for the landscape, people and wildlife of Africa. Brown moved to Botswana when he was 13, and continued to develop his artistic talent over the last 24 years.