Tsiakana�s right brain still intact

Chippa Legodimo | Friday April 4, 2014 12:17

 

A few years back when Kaboyaone Tsiakana showed a lot of potential as a visual artist, he would use his mind’s eye to produce some engaging abstract pieces.

Then in 2012 thieves in Tsolamosese attacked him.  He sustained a head injury that led to his memory loss and spent a considerable amount of time in hospital.

“In fact I had some brain damage,” he explains to Arts & Culture.

Few could imagine Tsiakana bouncing back with the same sharp mind, let alone hold his pencil and brush.

But one and a half years later, the 25-year-old regained his memory. 

He mesmerised his colleagues and art critics with his impressions of different life situations as he continues to document them in his works. The young artist is still a little unstable after the incident and his voice shakes when he recalls events of that fateful night. 

Even then nothing can stop him from expressing himself on a piece of paper.

His imagination is still very acute as he recently produced his first major piece since the ‘long break’. While in the kitchen cleaning up a mixture of Handy Andy and liquid dishwasher created an interesting picture as the substances gelled and flowed.  His brain immediately saw artwork unfolding.  The image resembled the map of Africa.

“I took a picture of the surface and as the two chemicals continued to dissolve into each other an abstract piece was formed.  I have simply called this piece Aferika,” he shows Arts & Culture the picture.

From a young age, Tsiakana had been showing a lot of artistic potential but preferred athletics, as he is also a good sprinter.

But a man by the name of Thato Dikole, a homeboy from Kanye, felt he could do better as an artist than a sprinter.

“He laterally dragged me out of the track.  I think he was the one who actually discovered the artist in me.

 From that time I never looked back and I have been exhibiting at Thapong for seven years until the injury,” he said. But the young man draws a lot of inspiration from famed former British army officer turned artist, John Hamilton whose sketchbooks he uses to refine his talent.

“I have never gone through any formal training, but Hamilton’s sketchbooks have taught me a lot,” he said.

Although he can easily move between different materials in pursuit of artistic fulfilment, Tsiakana has conceded that he feels at home with the pencil.

“It took me a few minutes to create this Madiba piece to this stage, and this is because I was using pencil,” he said, pointing to a Nelson Mandela pencil drawing Arts & Culture found him working on.

His earliest memorable art piece, he recalled, was a drawing of a woman in a cosy posture with her cat.  Rightly themed Emotions, the drawing sought to demonstrate the relationship between humans and their tamed friends while at the same time, he said, was meant to encourage such harmonious co-existence.

Because he is always interested in human relations, trying to interrogate even the situation through art.

“I am also an emotional person and I take a lot of interest in what takes place in our daily lives.  I had another piece called Crying Woman in which I captured the pain our mothers go through on a daily basis.  We see it all the time,” he said.

While clearly he is somewhat a novice in the arts, Tsiakana has already been recognised for his good craftsmanship.  In 2007, he came second in the Gaborone Arts Cluster Exhibition held at Botswanacraft Marketing. He also has several certificates obtained after participating in various art competitions at school.