Thapong hosts a unique multimedia exhibition

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Friday April 16, 2010 00:00

 

The workshop (and therefore, the exhibition) attracted a number of Thapong artists from Gantsi, Digawane, Kanye, Pelotshetlha, Kauxcwi (near Shakawe), Mahalapye, Mochudi, Molepolole, Moshupa, Tutume, Shashe and Francistown. The facilitator at the workshop was a lecturer at Kwame Nkurumah University in Ghana, George Kushiator who told Arts & Culture in an earlier interview that he was going to mainly focus on teaching the participants integration of multimedia in painting.

At that time, the facilitator also revealed to Arts & Culture that he had noted that Batswana mainly specialised in representational as opposed to the more challenging conceptual art and therefore, one of his endeavors was to change their mindset in that regard.

It seems Kushiator did not fail in his initiative as Thapong is currently hosting a unique exhibition that showcases integration of multimedia techniques in painting.

The main reason this display is not your everyday exhibition is because it would only appeal to the eyes of discerning art-lovers since others might find the unconventional approach either hard to interpret or in bad taste. Those who discern would most certainly be happy with the fact that at least there is something different in the offing and that can be interpreted as a sign of growth on the part of local artists.

After gleaning what they did from Kushiator, the participants applied different techniques using media such as enamel, acrylic and pencil to come up with their pieces.

Afterwards, they took pictures of their works, uploaded them in their computers and digitally manipulated them to come up with new unique pieces.

In a nutshell, the participants encompassed traditional methods of art with modern approaches to come up with these thought-provoking artworks.

One of the participants, Keatlaretse Kwati told Arts & Culture in an interview that she found the workshop engaging. She said that although a good number of artists at the workshop were out-of-school youths, they showed a lot of enthusiasm to learn the new techniques as introduced by Kushiator.

'This workshop was one of a kind and we have never had anything like that before. I wish it could have taken longer so that we could learn more techniques,' she said.

Kwati, who also happens to be an art teacher, said although she had learnt how to use the computer as a tool at university, she has learnt a of lot new approaches through the workshop.

Kago Toise of Molepolole told Arts & Culture that what he learnt from the facilitator took them by surprise when he introduced the new technique. He said that he was also taken a few years back into time when he applied the marbling, a technique that he learnt while still at primary school.

'One of the things that made it easy for us as participants to learn a lot from the facilitator was the fact that he was very interactive and easy-going,' said Toise who added that he managed to complete about 25 pieces at the workshop. The artist has so far mounted two pieces at the exhibition.

The coordinator of Thapong, Reginald Bakwena, also spoke highly of the workshop-cum-exhibition saying that it was good that his artists have learnt something different from the workshop.   

Some of the works to look out for at the exhibition include Keatlaretse Kwati's Lost In My Space, Theo Keikotlhae's Pragmatism, Motlotlegi Rantleru's The Dish, Michael Mooki's The Birds (strangely only one bird is featured in this piece), Olga Abotseng's Turbulence, Kago Toise's Happiness, Lizar Senatle' The Cave, George Kushiator's Embrace, Kabo Segotsa's Summer Rain, Ramohube Ramohube's Diversity, Wada Supang's Harvest Dance, France Rankgomo's Fishing, Michael Mooki's Dinkgwana Tse Pedi, Moaletsa Moaletsa's Meribo and Ezekiel Ketumile's Storm.

Interestingly, this workshop/exhibition comes at a time when leading artists like current Thapong Artist of the Year, Uhuru Kgope express concern about stunted growth of the arts in Botswana where most artists seem to be stuck in representational art, avoiding the conceptual approach in the process.

'The problem with our artists here is that they do not want to explore new concepts. Most of them just prefer to use paint and canvas and then they call themselves artists, which is sad,' Kgope told Arts & Culture in an earlier interview.

One can only hope that the close to 20 artists who took part at the exhibition would do their bit to help the visual arts in Botswana grow by putting Kushiator's lessons into practice. It remains to be seen who of those participants would be willing to venture into the more challenging and engaging conceptual art.

The annual painting workshop has been running for a number of years and the French Embassy has supported it since inception.