Veteran renowned painter, Wilson Ngoni on Tuesday held a private viewing of his latest solo exhibition, “I,” at the National Museum and Art Gallery in Gaborone, unveiling more than 40 vibrant works that pulse with colour and movement.
For Ngoni, the title carries layered meaning.
“The title of the show is called I,” he said at the opening. “I as in me. My journey and a wide variety of styles and themes with which I paint. For many years, for more than 25 years, I’ve been painting a lot of abstract paintings, actually, but I haven’t shown them. So, for the first time, I’m showing every other field, every other style that I work with. So, that’s the reason why it’s called I. I, all my feelings. I, all me. I, all from inside,” he said.
The exhibition marks a significant shift. Long celebrated for his realism, Ngoni now reveals a bold abstract side that has quietly evolved over decades. The result is a deeply personal body of work that feels both intimate and expansive.
“But the I also means you,” he added with a warm smile. “Because as I paint, I’m not painting only to view my paintings. I’m not painting only to heal myself. If you enjoy the paintings, I enjoy painting. So, I mean me, but it also means us.”
Ngoni said colour anchors the exhibition, not simply as technique, but as emotion.
“Colour is principally my most principal emotion,” Ngoni said, “and colour, it has to be in kinesis. It has to be in motion. It has to be in motion. Clouds of colour. This colour, I’m arranging it sometimes in realism, sometimes in abstract.”
He described colour as an intuitive language: “And colour can understand me better, sometimes when I don’t understand myself, and I don’t understand life, or nobody understands me. I sense colour even in black and white. I sense colour on white surfaces. That’s the reason why we trace them to become where you now see them.”
The canvases themselves feel alive. “If you look at these canvases, they’re atmospheric. They are that universe. They are a world. It’s, like I say, that kinesis. Always moving.”
Among the most charming elements is a recurring clothespin motif rooted in childhood imagination. “The clothespins are a childhood memory. When I was little, I used to think that clothespins were living things and were able to lay eggs and play… I’m growing old, but the child inside me remains.”
With “I,” Ngoni offers more than a retrospective glance inward. He opens a shared space between artist and audience, a colourful, moving encounter with a creator still exploring, still feeling, and still in motion. The exhibition is free and open to the public, with all works available for purchase.
