Ngoni's mastery on display at National Museum

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Staff Writer | Friday March 22, 2013 00:00

Officially opening the event Thapong Visual Arts Centre treasurer Mesh Moeti described the artist as a very accomplished and a fine painter.'Having been an admirer of Wilson's art for a long time, I have seen his work develop with time to a point where he is today a very accomplished and prolific painter,' Moeti said.Losing his mother at a tender age, while still at junior secondary school, might have had a big impact on Ngoni's artistic vision.Moeti noted that having been born to a single mother, Ngoni was not only robbed of a parent but also a cheerleader, and a friend as well as the innocence and comfort of youth.

As such he was forced to transform from a boy into a man overnight, which meant he had to earn a living.'He turned to art and by selling paintings he helped augment the support his family got from social workers. It was not easy but he managed to do well in his studies and proceeded to Moeding College,' Moeti said. Following a successful completion of secondary education where he emerged with good grades, Ngoni was admitted at Molepolole College of Education (MCE) for further studies but chose to follow his passion and chose not to enrol.'There is a book by one of Africa's greatest statesmen that carries the title Very Brave Or Very Foolish. I do not know where to place Ngoni's decision. But I think it was one of the two,' Moeti said. He chose to sell paintings and enter art competitions for survival, an undertaking that proved very challenging, as there were several dry spells though he won many of those competitions.

The Masunga-born painter, who grew up in Gabane, often had to walk to Gaborone to sell his paintings and because of the level of his desperation at the time the prices of his painting would often be determined by the customer.Many of his works from that period were bought for anything from P50 to P100, according to Moeti. He noted that at his first solo exhibition at Kgosi Sechele Museum in 2002, Ngoni failed to sell a single piece of his works.Moeti said that after 20 years painting and drawing, there was no doubt that Ngoni had won the respect for his imagination, skill and artistic rigor, saying his work is a product of the tapestry of life as it unfolds around him as well as the reflection of deeper, more personal thoughts and feelings.Looking on the paintings on display, Moeti said he was reminded of the words of the Mozambican artist Malangatana Ngwenya who once said, 'Art is a musical instrument full of messages.  These are the messages that the artist selects to put together in front of humanity.'