Annual Seabe HIV/AIDS Awareness Exhibition opens

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday December 10, 2010 00:00

The exhibition will be running until January 31.

This year, there are 28 local artists who have exhibited in this exhibition, which is aimed at spreading the message about HIV/AIDS.  Some of the artists who are exhibiting are women.  The exhibition also includes some works by Brazilian artists. 

One of the illustrations by a Brazilian cartoonist depicts a condom as a car safety belt to lock out HIV. 

Some of the paintings by the local artists are really touching.  There are also sculptures on display. 

A Molefhi Senior Secondary School art teacher, Kate Kwati, said she has been participating in the exhibition for a number of years.

She takes her participation as part of her commitment to social obligation to the community. 

Kwati said as women, it inspires them to address issues that are affecting them and children. 

'Your art work must sensitise people,' she said, adding that the exhibition has grown over the years.

'We have moved from just painting beautifully to conveying messages.  The message that we are trying to convey is about a life touched or saved,' she said.

Kwati, who is a member of the Botswana Visual Artists Association, said they have been roped in by the Department of Arts and Culture to assist in organising the exhibition.

As an association, she said, it is their intention to make the exhibition grow every year. 

Kwati said it is important that artists should also be involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  She said they are also affected as part of the society. 

'You are either infected or affected.  We want our art works to actually relay that message.  But it has to be positive.  It always has to change lives,' she said.

Kwati said a workshop was held for the artists before the exhibition.  She sees much improvement in this year's entries.

Officiating at the exhibition, the deputy coordinator of the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Golekanye Setume said the Nna le Seabe HIV/AIDS awareness exhibition is programmed to coincide with the World AIDS Day.  'The exhibition represents a vital contribution by the visual arts in combating the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Botswana.  The programme is now nearly eight-years-old and has seen phenomenal growth with notable milestones over the past years.

'This growth has, over the past two years, manifested itself through positive and forward-looking collaborations with external organisations that have a similar mission.'

Setume went on: 'For instance, I am told that joint exhibitions have been held with the Fine Arts Department of the University of Durban.   Through this collaboration, the famous Break the Silence print portfolio was integrated into this exhibition.  This was important as it provided a benchmark on how complex issues of HIV/AIDS are articulated by artists beyond our borders.'

He revealed that the Department of Arts and Culture has extended its collaboration with locally based organisations dedicated to fighting AIDS/HIV.  He said short seminars on the response to HIV and AIDS were delivered by organisations like the Harvard AIDS Institute, NACA, Tebelopele Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre and the Department of Women's Affairs.  'These organisations helped the artists to build knowledge that would help them understand the dynamics of the scourge so that they can effectively communicate through visual representation.'

Setume said there were also externally based organisations that were part of the presentations.

He said the launch of the exhibition comes just a week after the commemoration of the World AIDS Day, which was held in Palapye on December 1. 

'The theme for this year, 'Universal Access and Human Rights', continues from last year and it addresses the critical need to continue the advocacy for access to all HIV/AIDS services as human rights matter.  This is a part of the call on countries to reflect on laws and policies that may be discriminatory against people living with HIV/AIDS.'

The NACA boss said Botswana has over the years, maintained and sustained comprehensive efforts in its fight against HIV/AIDS.  He said the county acknowledges that the battle against HIV/AIDS has to be tackled more aggressively from the prevention front. 

To this end, he said, the government has put in places various behavioural prevention strategies and interventions.  Furthermore, he said, there is renewed emphasis on HIV prevention in order for Botswna to achieve its strategic target of zero new HIV infections by 2016. 

He said though there has been a steady decline in HIV/AIDS new infections over the years, the war is far from over.  He revealed that the 2008 survey estimated that HIV prevalence among the general population is at 17 percent, which translates to about 350,000 people living with HIV infection.

The report indicates that the prevalence rate for women is 20 percent and 14 percent for males.  It also shows that the prevalence rate is highest among pregnant women aged 30-34 years with almost 50 percent women in this age group being infected. 

'These statistics pose a challenge which requires combined and well coordinated interventional efforts of both government and civil society,' the official said.

He added that the Nna le Seabe HIV/AIDS exhibition for 2010 could not have come at a better time.  'This exhibition should rally every Motswana to play his or her own part in combating the scourge of HIV/AIDS.  The war against the scourge cannot be won on the frontiers of government efforts alone but through collective efforts of all stakesholders.'