06 Jun 2018

Last year’s Thapong Artist of the Year Award (TAYA) winner is in Namibia to attend the Tulipamwe International Artists’ workshop as part of an exchange programme.

Reginald Bakwena, coordinator of Thapong Visual Arts Centre, revealed in an interview that Obed Mokhuhlani was crowned the overall winner of TAYA last year, pocketing P45 000, P15 000 of which was reserved for the art exchange programme in Namibia.

“The idea of the project is to invite a group of Namibian, regional and international artists to work in a rural community of Namibia for a period of 14 days, creating artworks in various media formats,” he said.

Bakwena said during the workshop, each artist would be encouraged to respond to the local environment in his/her choice of theme, material and technique. He noted that artists were encouraged to share knowledge and visual art techniques with local artists.

“Some of the artwork may be donated to the community to contribute to its cultural enrichment,” said Bakwena.

He thanked Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC), through the BTC Foundation for having sponsored TAYA and making such initiatives possible.

Bakwena noted that Mokhuhlani was expected to share the experience with local artists and schools upon his return.

“I am therefore glad to note that TAYA focuses on recognising maturity and professionalism of artists, and our greatest task as a country is to commercialise the arts and to ensure that our artists enjoy maximum exposure.”

Bakwena further spoke on local artists’ need to prepare for this year’s TAYA, saying it could open doors to them to access regional and international markets.

For his part, Mokhuhlani said he was grateful for the efforts of organisations such as Thapong Arts Centre, which housed artists and facilitated their participation in local and international competitions.

“I arrived in Namibia this past Friday and the workshop started the same day, but I was late due to work constraints,” he said, adding that he was happy that he managed to make the trip. He said they were expected to finish working by June 13 and mount an exhibition the following day. “I will be back in Botswana between June 15-16,” said Mokhuhlani.

He noted that there were 25 artists mostly from African countries such as South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana.

“We are 250km south of Windhoek, close to a small town called Mariental and we also have some artists from Germany. We are lodged at Hardap dam and it has the perfect state of the art facilities,” said Mokhuhlani.

He further indicated that the serene environment was perfect for the creative process, and he was also happy that he was not the only Motswana in attendance.

“There are two Batswana here, Atang Phitshana and Kabelo Modise. Atang is a photographer, actress and film maker based in Maun while Kabelo is based in Windhoek and is part of the Tulipamwe International Artists’ workshop organising team,” he said.

On what he hopes to learn through the exchange programme, Mokhuhlani said he hoped to get an understanding of how the visual arts were progressing in other countries.

“I want to know things such as artists and art organisation funding, marketing and the art market in their countries, artist and art organisation management through an arts council, art education, skills development, exposure in terms of exhibitions and how to collaborate with other art organisations regionally and globally,” he continued.

He said young artists needed to be empowered and exchange programmes such as these were certain to help in networking and open up opportunities not only for him but for his fellow artists in Botswana.

“This will also help me gain and develop new artistic skills that will enhance my artistic expression as well as enhance my teaching of the subject to my students,” he said.

Speaking on advice he would give to his fellow Botswana artists who wished to penetrate the regional and international market, Mokhuhlani said he encourages hard work.

“We are not that far behind in terms of our artistic expression. Our major challenge is funding and getting creative spaces to work from. I must admit that the local art scene is currently on the right track with a lot of young artists coming into the industry,” he said. Mokhuhlani said artists needed financial support to compete regionally and globally.

“In terms of technical capabilities, I believe we are at par with some of our counterparts, and we just need to improve a bit on the conceptual aspect. As artists we need to rise and demand recognition for us to be visible to the global market,” he said.

He said with Botswana being landlocked, it has limited access to the global markets thus making artists from Botswana relatively unknown, even regionally.

“We need to improve our visibility through constantly engaging in art talks where we share ideas on various aspects of our industry. We have to form art groups that will apply for funding that will in turn help us take our art to the world and constantly browse the web for residencies and art competitions that are always open calls to international artists,” he said, concluding that artists also needed to use social media to advance their networking with other artists and art organisations worldwide. ENDS