Chippa Legodimo
28 November 2008
Kgosi Sechele Museum is exhibiting at Thapong Visual Arts Centre in Gaborone. Products on display range from skin mats, wooden dishes (megopo), wooden spoons, leather bags, ostrich eggshell bracelets, beads, bracelets, wooden lamps, clay pots, walking sticks as well as dancing rattles (matlhoa).
Just a step into the exhibition gallery one is met by a natural smell of leather and hides as most of the exhibits are made of natural tanned leather using a mixture of herbs from the bush. Just a scent of that leather makes you curious to know more about what is inside there. For culture enthusiasts it gives a real sense of being but even those who are not that much interested in cultural products it gets them to appreciate their African roots. Two large skin mats hang from two walls but each with a different design and shapes. One is composed of kudu, springbok and impala hides while the other one is made mainly of the same type of skin with only a few added pieces of other animals on the edges to give it an appealing look.
Although one would say the exhibition demonstrates Tswana culture, Kgosi Sechele Museum marketing officer Tlamelo Ntekola explained to Arts and Culture that their main aim was to expose Bakwena culture to other tribes. "The exhibits were taken from all around the Kweneng District and were made by individuals in different villages.
We bought them from all these individuals and we have been selling them in our craft shop at the museum and we had decided that we should share our culture with other people and we decided to have this exhibition in Gaborone because that is where most people can get a chance to go to the exhibition, "Ntekola explained.
Some hunting kit, comprising bow and arrow together with the leather container are also on display at the exhibition and so are leather vases, with one uniquely made of untreated goatskin with all its hair.
Other products include leather passport covers, sandals, leather and feather ear rings, guinea fowl decors as well as décor clay pots. "As we can see there are some nice things for house decoration as well as bracelets and earrings, which are made of natural products and as you know all these things which used to be big in the olden days are back in demand and it is only fair that we bring them out so that those who are in love with them would know where to get them because obviously there are only a few places to get them," Ntekolo said.
She said that in future they would consider exhibiting in other parts of the country as they aim to further promote Bakwena culture. The exhibition is scheduled to run until Saturday.
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