31 May 2021

Empire Arts Consultancy director, Obed Mokhuhlani says there is a need to support emerging visual artists for them to be in a better position to unleash their potential.

Mokhuhlani said during a collaboration exhibition between Thapong Visual Arts and Empire Arts Consultancy held at Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Gaborone on Saturday.

The collaboration exhibition titled, Motlhala Solo Exhibition featured Ronald Kegomoditswe, an emerging artist, who specialises in contemporary drawing and painting.

Mokhuhlani, who is also a member of Thapong Visual Arts Centre, shared his personal experience concerning art, saying creating artworks could be a daunting task especially when one did not have all the necessary support to keep going.

“Failure to give emerging visual artists necessary support results in a stagnant career growth and you will find that some of them have long practiced art but they are still perceived as emerging artists,” he said.

He said through his newly established consultancy company, he intended to reach out to emerging artists, develop and promote their growth from the grassroots level to professional creative practices.

Mokhuhlani, thus, noted that part of his efforts included collaborating with Thapong Visual Centre to host three exhibitions since January to date, including Motlhala Solo Exhibition.

He said his other focus was to encourage engage artists to develop other business concepts that would help them augment sales they received from their artworks.

“I also intend to encourage the spirit of teamwork among artists. I have seen some emerging artists with brilliant ideas but failed to execute them well because they had no one to take them through step by step,” he said.

He said the concept of regular exhibitions was meant to keep artists active in creating fresh works and get them to share their works with the public to keep cultivating the cultural vibrancy for more developments of local arts and positioning them in global spaces.

Meanwhile, Mokhuhlani said Motlhala Solo was a commissioned exhibition that told Kegomoditswe’s journey and experience in art circles.

He said Kegomoditswe portrays navigated on different concepts that intended to send messages on everyday life challenges.

He also said the purpose of the Motlhala Solo exhibition was to give Kegomoditswe possible exposure and to help him make possible sales without any competitors. ENDS