The Art and Crafts exhibition
Chippa Legodimo | Friday April 3, 2015 18:00
The Art and Crafts of Botswana exhibition officially opened at the National Museum on Monday, igniting an exciting imagination of the country’s heritage and its close links with South Africa.
The official opening was held in conjunction with Ditsong Museum of South Africa as per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two museums in 2003.
The MoU established a joint permanent commission for co-operation between the two countries.
As part of the agreement, the exhibits will be on display in Botswana for two months before being transferred to Pretoria where they will spend the same length of time at Ditsong museum.
Various pieces, including some archaeological discoveries, ignited deep thought on how life in Botswana used to be, and what kind of economy it had.
Old metal tools, which are evidence of early iron smelting from various Botswana tribes, are part of the items on display at the exhibition. These include, rusty hunting spears, axes and a few other assortments.
But what would perhaps immediately catch a visitor’s attention would be the old bellows (moubelo), which was used for heating charcoal when forging iron into a blast furnace.
Perhaps the oldest piece of history on display is the clay pot from the Tsodilo hills, which according to carbon dating was used around 1200 AD.
Just next to this valuable pot is clay potsherds also discovered at Tsodilo.
The most colourful feature of the exhibition is basketry section where the crafts, in different shapes and sizes are a real eye-catcher.
They are a mixture of old and modern design baskets from across the country.
Also on display are some fish traps from the Okavango area where fishing has from time immemorial been the main economic activity.
Basarwa culture is also on display with ostrich shell beads dominating one section of the main gallery.
These shells still form an important part of this tribe’s cultural identity. The indigenous people wear them to accentuate their beauty, and because of how attractive they are, they have steadily found their way into cities where even ‘modern’ women wear them with pride.
Differently designed necklaces, bracelets and head beads made for good variety of viewing at this exhibition.
Speaking at the event, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism, Elias Magosi, said the exhibition is all encompassing of some of Botswana cultural artefacts.
He said the objective is to trace their historical significance from the basic traditional functionality, to their decorative use today.
“The theme of the exhibition in Setswana is ‘Re Ribolola Serodumo Sa Ngwao Ya Rona’ which loosely translates to ‘Unearthing the Ambiance of our Culture’. The exhibition showcases our art and crafts,” he said.
Magosi also noted that the exhibition would serve to strengthen collaboration between the Botswana National Museum and Ditsong Museum.
He reminded the audience that Botswana National Museum is a custodian of more than 50,000 cultural objects collected from various ethnic groups in the country. Some date as far back as the early 1960s.
He also highlighted that the artefacts are an important resource, which provide information and reference point of life processes, events and interactions among people.