Supa Ngwao Museum Hosts Arts Exhibition

By Isaac Pheko
Correspondent | Monday November 17, 2008 00:00

All art forms including sculptures, paintings and photographs are on display at the exhibition, which comes a few weeks after Thapong held a workshop for artists at the museum.

Monwabisi Ntuli, a curator at the Super Ngwao Museum, explained that the exhibition is an annual event. The goal of the exhibition is to give artists exposure and an opportunity to network.

'The exhibition is running for a month, and we reach our artists from this areas through word of mouth,' Monwabisi explained.  Monwabisi said the exhibition is also catering for younger artists who are still at school.

After the official opening of the exhibition, the artists met and  discussed their concerns about the state of art in Francistown and the surrounding areas.

One of the artists, Benard Mabutho, lamented te attitude of some of their contemporaries who despite having see m first class art works do not attend the exhibitions.  'There are artists who display very good art works but they do not take time to attend the exhibition. They just leave their art works and disappear. 

'They need to attend the exhibition opening like this one so that they can share creative ideas with other artists. I believe days like this one are special because they come once in a while,' said Mabutho .

At the same meeting, artists discussed issues affecting their trade like the logistics involved in running an art workshop and premises where artists can operate from. Artists also agreed that a committee responsible for the needs of artists be formed.

Art works at the exhibition include pieces of abstract paintings that are not easily understood and require the artists to explain their work to the public.

These pieces of abstract art were mostly inspired by common diseases like hypertension, HIV/AIDS, and depression.

Other pieces are portraits of some famous people, images of wild animals, religious icons and African traditional settings. Impressive pieces of photography are also on display featuring small animals and plants. The exhibition is free and open to the public.