14 Jul 2022

More training will empower artists with proper skills to improve their craft and learn cultural skills to promote the country’s cultural identity.

“Botswana culture is what makes this country unique from others, therefore, it is imperative to provide skills training and empower artists with relevant tools,” said Neo Matome-Harun, chief adjudicator in the Lekgapho category under Art, Basket and Craft in the National Arts Festival competition.

She expressed the remarks during the art, basket and craft exhibition in Gaborone on Tuesday and further appealed for more skills workshops for the Lekgapho artists. She said such workshops could be conducted by those who have demonstrated expertise in thes field.

Matome-Harun further advised the Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture to be mindful of the weather particularly when the time for judging nears. She said some competitors decried rainy conditions which impacted their work resulting in low standards even some not making the cut to compete.

Earlier on, Matome-Harun shared their observations for the category which had 112 entries across the country. She explained that the Lekgapho category had two main features being north and south. From the north, she said they had 72 participants and only 37 qualified for the final, whilst in the south, there were 40 and only 18 made it to the final.

 

She said failure to qualify was due to the omission of some needed features for the decoration of Lekgapho. She encouraged artists to empower and enhance themselves with skills needed to improve their craft. Matome-Harun said Lekgapho should be artistically impressive to the eye, as they considered design, colour use, size and shape among other things.

 

Further, she said they considered authenticity and originality, adding that they looked at whether the artist was conventional or they used fresh ideas. “If they used conventional method, we expected them to be consistent in their execution,” Matome-Harun said. She also said the art piece was expected to have relevance to Botswana culture in context.

“Culture is dynamic and it evolves as we traverse through the years,” she said adding that they expected artists to fuse new ideas into their work when using original designs and decorations. She said artists should have pride in their culture and incorporate it in modern ways.

Other categories in the Art, Basket and Craft included photography, innovation design/mixed media, printmaking, leatherwork, ceramic, woodcarving, traditional pottery, beadwork, jewellery, textile, tapestry, open and closed basket, painting, drawing, and graphic design.

The prize money for positions one, two and three in all categories were P10 000, P8 000 and P6 000 respectively. In addition to these, there was also best and most promising prize money for Lekgapho, woodcarving and crafts at P5 000 and P10 000 respectively.

The most promising artist in Lekgapho was awarded to Kelekile Mokolobe from Khakhea whilst Dikinane Gaeboloke was named best in Lekgapho. Kakangwa Nokai was named the most promising artist in crafts and Montsho Modisane was the best artist in the show.  ENDS