Nursing student pursues art passion
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday January 22, 2021 16:43
Despite that, 21-year-old Olebile Bulang who is a second year nursing student at the University of Botswana has vowed to never trade her passion for anything. Even though the young woman aspires to be a nurse, she swore to keep on pursuing art as a way of raising awareness. In an interview with Arts & Culture, Bulang said she has always loved drawing from a very young age.
The talented young woman said she chose to do fine art or visual art because of her love for it. For Bulang, art means that she could express herself and spread awareness using visual art. 'Most of the time I use pencil but I also use other art mediums like charcoal, coloured pencils, oil pastels and I did my current art piece using a ball point pen and acrylic paint. I also use German print on some of my drawings.
I incorporate different art techniques like scribbling, cross hatching and smudging. I just like exploring new art techniques and medium too,' she said proudly. Looking back, Busang said she learnt how to draw at Junior School at Kgale Hill CJSS where she had the best art teacher. Bulang then continued doing art at Gaborone Senior School where she was also taught by one of the best art teachers.
She said she actually learnt using some of the art mediums like charcoal, chalk pastels and oil pastels then. She then started doing art again just a year after she finished her BGCSE at GSS in 2019 where she actually started posting her drawing the same year after being influenced by one of her friends Karabo Bagayi to pursue art. She said Bagayi even went to the extent of introducing her to an artiste who taught her a thing or two about the field. Since then she admitted on being an art addict and passion for art grew further. As an individual or independent artiste, Busang said this was her third year in the field. 'I am actually inspired by a lot of things. The first work that I did was a child abuse themed drawing which I did in support of the #eseng mo ngwaneng movement. I would say that I'm inspired by what's actually happening around me.
I even have two drawings which I did focusing on the whole Corona situation we are currently facing. Apart from that I am all about women empowerment,' she said. Among all her beautiful masterpieces, Busang has two paintings of beautiful women that she described as her favorites.
She explained that since she was all about women empowerment, she used different techniques in those drawings and also used German print. One of those drawings she described as her favorite is the one with a woman wearing a headgear titled, 'Mosadi Thari Ya Sechaba.' In that masterpiece she had made a Botswana map with a German print which she used as the head wrap.
Bulang doesn’t have an art studio but works from home. Her art works have only been exhibited at Thapong Visual Art Centre and 2019 Presidential competitions. Moreover, Bulang said having to do a course which was totally different from her line of work was a hustle. She explained that being a university student she is sometimes forced to focus way too much on her academics.