Mothibatsela's 'heavenly' and poetic artworks

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Friday February 8, 2008 00:00

Hopelessly loving through pain Is Heaven...
The sound of soul in my locks Or is Heaven where my granny lives
She always said things like, 'My child, just go to school, look after each other.'
'Hai, mnatanami, we have swallowed a bitter pill!'

After writing the poem, the artist put it away safely as according to her, she does not normally share her writings with anyone.

So when Mothibatsela's boss Steve Jobson approached her and other two women artists and suggested that they should think of creating a series of artworks inspired by pieces of writing, it did not take long for the talented artist to think of a piece of writing to use as she already had the poem. Currently she, together with Jobson, have mounted an exhibition of poetic artworks at the National Museum and Art Gallery. Perhaps to be able to interpret the abstract pieces better, one has to sit with the artist.

As mentioned before, the artworks in the exhibition have been inspired by the poem, Heaven that she dedicated to her late grandmother. The artist says that the 'change' that was brought about by her grandmother's passing motivated her to do a lot of soul searching.

Curiously, some of the artworks were burnt with fire to highlight that change, as the artist believes it (fire) is a symbol of change.

'When my grandmother died, I began questioning the whole idea of heaven. When somebody dies, do they really go to heaven? Is that where my grandmother went?' she says.

Mothibatsela says she still sorely misses her grandmother and that is demonstrated by the many pieces that she has dedicated to her memory. So far, there are more than 21 pieces (some artworks are in series, which are counted as one) on display and she is working on 20 more.

Mothibatsela, who comes from the Borolong area, says she discovered that she was an artist while still at primary school but at that time the subject was not taken seriously. It was while doing her secondary education at Maruapula that she met her mentor, Nigel Dunmore.

'Before I met Dunmore, I just painted pretty pictures and that was, it but after meeting him he made it clear as to which path to take,' she says.

From Maruapula, she went to Maryland Institute, College of Art in the United States of America where she majored in General Fine Arts.

After completing her studies, Mothibatsela joined the art department in Maruapula and interestingly, she is working with her former teacher, Dunmore.

The artist says that apart from teaching, she has been freelancing as an artist since 1990. Unlike some of her peers in the visual arts, she does not struggle to sell her pieces thanks to the marketing strategies she learnt in the US. Mothibatsela says that she gets a good number of private and commercial commissions and that her pieces normally sell well at exhibitions.

'Batswana are starting to open up in spending more on original works and are getting tired of buying wholesale fakes,' says the dreadlocked artist.

A few years back the artist was commissioned by PEEPA to make a portrait of President Festus Mogae. Although it is evident that she is good at making portraits, she says she does not enjoy it though ' it is good for me'.

The multi-talented artist is able to use different media and her technique and approach are always unique to each piece she produces.

Mothibatsela says she does not want to attach any labels to herself as she has been able to venture into different disciplines of art such as painting, ceramic pottering, weaving, printing, pencil- drawing, sculpturing and draughtsmanship. As far as painting is concerned, she started off doing mostly realism before dabbling in abstract.

'When I mounted my first exhibition of abstract pieces I was very nervous as I was not sure of the way people were going to respond but I was put at ease when I got positive remarks,' says the artists.

Since then, she has been mostly doing abstract artworks.

Later this year, the artist, together with her colleagues Steve Jobson, Ann Golliffer and Monica Selelo will exhibit their works at the Grahamstown Festival in South Africa.

Perhaps when the Grahamstown exhibition comes to an end, the artist will ponder on the words of her poem and find some internal healing and closure: She just popped a bitter pill in my mouth. I didn't know it at first, the bitterness hit like a storm.

'Take that one, the pink one. Take two,' she'd say. I gave in to the pill.
It will heal me I suppose.