Exhibition unlocks convicts' hidden talent

Dubbed Unlocking the Mind, the exhibition is of art by current and former convicts, which opened on Wednesday at the National Museum Main Gallery in Gaborone.

Paintings (oil paintings on canvas), pencil sketches, tapestries and craft "quilts", paper-mache and metal sculptures are all part of this unique exhibition. Most of the prison inmates opted to stick to themes preferred by most Botswana artists: nostalgic scenes of times past set in farming lands and cattle posts, or other such rural areas.  They also have a number of portraits of President Ian Khama, former Commissioner of Prisons Herman Kau and former acting minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Edwin Batshu.