Thapong hosts TAYA 2010 exhibition

Gasebalwe Seretse
Correspondent | Friday November 19, 2010 00:00

 

As mentioned elsewhere in Arts & Culture, this year, the top prize was scooped by photographer, Donald Moilwe, while second prize went to Ditshupo Mogapi and the third prize was snatched by Olemogeng Maaramele.

There is no doubt that Moilwe, who holds BEd (Art) from the University of Newcastle, Australia, deserved the prize as his three photo paper gloss pieces namely Mapakiwa, Mapakiwa Cooking and Infusion are simply breathtaking. Perhaps, the judges were charmed by Mapakiwa because it graces the cover of this year's TAYA catalogue, but this writer found Infusion more enchanting and pleasing to behold. According to his short biography, Moilwe is fascinated by how photography media works where magical combination of light and media forms an image.

Arts & Culture has always been impressed by Ditshupo Mogapi's works and this year he has proved to be a cut above his peers by snatching the second prize with his engaging oil on canvas pieces Rock Painting and Senatla.

This Tswapong young man has always been a hard-worker and one can only hope that his win will serve as motivation to other young and upcoming artists.

For two consecutive years, San artist, Olemogeng Maaramele has won the third prize at TAYA; and his pieces Dikwena Le Dikgaka and Ditlou Le Dikolobe are some of the pieces worth buying at the exhibition.  Interestingly, this time around, he has decided to label his works in Setswana as opposed to one of the San languages and English.

Having paid tribute to the deserving winners, Arts & Culture strongly believes that old Barnabas Ndudzo also deserved a win with his exquisite sculptures, Statue, Thinker and The Marriage Gift (which at P 27, 000 has already found a buyer).

This will most certainly take the organisers back to the question of whether there should be a winner in each category and then the overall winner.  This writer can boldly declare that if the awards were divided into categories, the overall winner, Moilwe, could have been the winner of the photography category ,while Ndudzo could have won the sculpture category.

Roger Brown, who won the Young Artist Award, is one of those young artists who are likely two emulate the likes of Mogapi.  His pieces, Black Oxen Pulling Cart, The Little Bird Song and Big Issue are simply pleasing to the eye and the fact that two of his pieces have already found a buyer does not come as a surprise.  This young man is simply talented and he is likely to be a permanent feature in major local exhibitions.

Veteran artist, Rantefe Mothebe, has shown young artists that being old does not mean one should relax and his Agriculture and Home are going to win him more admirers.  One can only hope that some collector could buy Mothebe' pieces. 

The artist has partly retired to his home in Mochudi.  Ociti Santo has drawn a portrait of the second vice president of Botswana and former Minister of Defence, Ndelu Seretse's father, Lenyeletse Seretse.  Seretse was one of the founding fathers of this republic.

As he had earlier promised, Kefilwe Mokopane presented a different piece, namely, The Universe in which he explored the concept of time.

The Universe is an intriguing piece indeed.  Fellow teacher and award-winning artist, Mogorosi Modisane's Team Work is also an attractive piece.  Arts & Culture was impressed by Tebogo Motaung's Mosotho Old Man Enjoying Traditional Brew, a mixed media sculpture, which is a coffee table, to be precise.  According to the artist, he wanted to share and remind viewers of the Sotho culture of traditional beer-drinking and the stories told during this activity.

For those who love gory artworks, Joseph Piet's fibre glass piece, Pain, is a must-have.   Sadly, this piece, which is likely to send a chill up and down the viewer's spine is not for sale.

Thato Khomela's coloured pencil on board Untitled is also a marvellous piece and it did not come as a surprise as it has already found a buyer.

Other pieces to look out for at the exhibition include Mmegi's Kebofhe Mathe's Accident,  Andrew Matseba's Dinkgwana, Bolaane Mazebedi's The Moon Pot, Oteng Robert's Blood, Keabetswe Kanasi's Food Storage, Ulf Nermark's Feathers, Lesedi Tshenyego's Mmatau Girls, Mabedi Jaba's The Towers, Wilson Ngoni's Instruments of Meleko and Mmoloki Matlale's Tshwenyane.

As always, President Ian Khama and Roy Sesana's portraits appeared in some of the works, as has been the case for the past few years.

All in all the presentations at the exhibition were quite impressive.

For those who want to know more about TAYA and the artist, grab yourselves a free copy of this year's catalogue at the centre.