09 May 2021

Thapong Visual Arts Centre Coordinator, Reginald Bakwena has challenged local visual artists to creatively reflect on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Speaking at an exhibition in Gaborone on Saturday, Bakwena said the COVID-19 pandemic had negatively affected artists and as such there was need to come up with initiatives that would help them market their products and services and keep afloat.

Bakwena revealed that the main focus was to teach artists to live with the pandemic, use technology to reach people without coming to the gallery.

“Artists are in a position to come up with solutions that might go a long way in helping the society fight the virus,” he said.

He noted that activity at the centre had been affected since customers and artists were not visiting the centre due to the pandemic.

“This has taught us not to just fold arms but think in a good way and come up with better strategies. Others have gone further and utilised technology as a response to the current situation, but it should be adopted as a long-term solution to open up the industry to the masses,” he said.

Emmanuel Senamolena, ceramic artist whose work was inspired by a dung beetle said, indicated that he had been faced with a lot of challenges during the pandemic but he would never abandon his God given talent.

“Just like a dung beetle I have struggled up steep hills, through muddy tracks and long complex pathways throughout my career. I would hold my talent tight so not to lose it but use it to reach my comfortable destiny,” he said

He also explained that the wounds on the beetle resembled all his struggles with the work, adding he was still in a frying pan with his work as the pandemic had altered his path over the past two years.

He thus urged other artists not to lose hope but keep their heads above the water because eventually everything would turn the corner.

Another artist, Dun Loureco whose work was titled Doorways to the past noted that each of her paintings reflected a certain memory and held a specific feeling.

The body of her work comprised both small and large oil on canvas paintings of landscapes of places in Botswana and South Africa.

She revealed that she painted the images in door and window sizes to give the impression that one could walk or look through into another world, that each piece was a door way to a memory.

Lourenco believes most of her work would inspire and give hope to the humanity because it gave a sense of a doorway that they might be able to walk through into, especially during the COVID-19 journey.

She stated that her little paintings also gave a feeling to imagine something more hopeful during trying times. Ends