Gasebalwe Seretse
5 September 2008
One of the greatest events on the arts' calendar in Botswana, the annual Thapong Artists of the Year Awards, took place last Saturday at the Visual Arts Centre. This year, the first position went to Neo Matome, a woman artist. Interestingly, Matome was one of the 11 women who participated in the awards. Second and third positions went to Abednico Sechaba and Kefilwe Mokopane respectively.
Matome's winning artworks are a series of digital prints called Mosadi Torso and under the three-part series there is Creative Spirit, Corporate Ladder and Domesticity. One of the things that will most certainly catch the eye of the connoisseur is the fact that all the pieces depict what appears to be ice blocks formed from a glass container.
In Creative Spirit, a painting brush passes through a block of ice and one can interpret this to be an attempt by the creator of the piece to either evoke or highlight the 'creative spirit' found in most women worldwide. Then strangely, Corporate Leather depicts a branch of a cactus going through an ice block and curiously there are some brightly coloured flowers blooming on the cactus. Cactuses more often than not bear drab flowers.
Can the work be interpreted to mean that although it is not easy for women to climb the Corporate Ladder (as symbolised by the cactus thorns) their success can be rosy as symbolised by the brightly coloured flowers blooming from the cactus? A safety pin pierces through the ice block in Domesticity and this might be interpreted to mean the ability of women to hold the household together by doing home chores thus like taking care of both the children and the spouse. One can sum up Matome's Mosadi Torso as the embodiment of the challenges and creativity that are an integral part of womanhood. Although the artist's work clearly impressed the judges, some connoisseurs, who go for conventional forms of art, might not be pleased with their choice.
Maybe Matome's would-be critics need to take some time and ponder on the words of Aristotle as quoted by Thapong coordinator Reginald Bakwena when he said: "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things but their inward significance."
It can be safely assumed that two things might have given Matome an edge over her competitors - she is one of the few women who participated in the competition and she entered to the photography category, which is still shunned by most artists. All that aside, Matome, who holds a Master of Arts degree in fine arts, is a professional who has participated in many workshops and exhibitions both at home and overseas.
Sechaba can simply be described as a master of pencil drawing. His drawings Donkey Cart 1, Donkey Cart 2 and Migration are pleasing to the eye and the works are likely to draw the attention of art-lovers. It is safe to assume that the judges might have had a tough time 'relegating' Sechaba into second position because his works are exquisite.
Donkey Cart 1 depicts two boys riding a donkey cart and in Donkey Cart 2, we suddenly see the number rising to three. The two pieces are reminiscent of those good old days when 'boys used to do their thing' at either the moraka or the masimo. For the lovers of wildlife, the piece Migration captures a herd of elephants in migration as the piece suggests.
The 34-year-old Sechaba holds a Bachelor of Education and Visual Arts degree from Newcastle University, Australia, and he has participated in a number of exhibitions in Botswana. Mmegi readers know the third prize-winner Kefilwe Mokopane as 'the artist who paints brightly coloured, abstract pieces with musical themes'. Mokopane's galleria on canvas pieces are Musical Climax, Vision and Degree of Rhythm. Like most abstract pieces the artist's pieces are hard to interpret but the bright and beautiful paints that he has incorporated into his work will most certainly catch the eye of any discerning art-lover and collector.
Mokopane, who has a Diploma in Art Education from Molepolole College of Education, specialises in abstract cubism and he cites the pioneers of genre, Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque as some of his greatest influences.
As mentioned before, the judges must have had a tough time deciding the winners. Having carefully studied the winning artworks, I would say that I would not have protested had any one of them (Matome, Sechaba and Mokopane) won first position.
Currently, 67 entries are displayed at the centre. Some of the artworks to look out for are Thapelo Nchalupi's Modern Abstract Office and Deco, Wailer Motsu's Transport in the Kalahari, Joseph Piet's Madala, Kgosi Goodwill's In the dusk of Heritage, Wendy Borello's Before the Storm, Mabedi Jaba's Tsamaya ka Pula, Rebecca de Figueiredo's Fruit 1, Inga Ritter's Fire and Night, Leutlwetse Kgosidialwa's Absolution, Olemogeng Maaramele's Quinca, Kenny Ketshotseng's Cowboys, Wilson Ngoni's Two Days Before Reaching Infinity, Mmoloki Matlale's Basarwa Women, Keabetswe Kanasi's Sculpture, Dintle Mogaleemang's Pot and Onkabetse Mpolokeng's Miseducation.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Bakwena said that the main purpose of the award is to bring together artists to interact and exchange ideas. "It is also meant to give exposure to young and disadvantaged artists who have limited opportunities to get exposure. It strengthens the visibility of Batswana artists as well as their contribution to the country," he said. Bakwena also informed Youth, Sport and Culture minister Gladys Kokorwe that Thapong is ready to partner with government to improve the standard of the arts in Botswana.
He said that as Thapong have noted one of the recommendations from the judges that they (Thapong) should establish a 'critic's forum' in order to assist artists to develop. For her part, Kokorwe pledged her ministry's support for Thapong.
The judges were:
Ronald Greasley, Edwin Dichaba, Otswetswe Bogosibokae, and Modirwa Kekwaletswe.
The sponsors were:
Department of Culture and Youth, the French Embassy, Gaborone Sun, and Bojang Media.
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It is maybe exciting that everybody is excited About Neo Matome winning the award as a woman artist. I think it is not about her gender but her creativity that she scooped the Thapong Artist of The Year Award 2008. If it was won by a male artist, would we be saying 'Male artist wins award"? I am sure not. We actually needed to see her name being flashed as a sub-heading rather than her gender being sub-headed. I thing we have to outlive the gender biased era where a woman who does well is complimented for being female. For… [Read Full Text]