18 Feb 2015

Like many disciplines where women seem to be lagging behind in societal issues, visual art in Botswana is also another aspect that women seem to not be too keen on.

Botswana has a hidden world of female artistry that is yet to be discovered.

It is only right that the media plays its part in unearthing some of Botswana’s dazzling female artists from the shadows, and reveal stories of courage and determination in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

For a long time, women have strived for equality by proving that they can do what their male counterparts are capable of.

Photography is one aspect of visual art that has a lot of potential and even President, Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has cited it as something that can grow the country, following his announcement a couple of years ago on the hunting ban to promote tourism.

President Khama has in the past encouraged people to take up photographic tourism, saying it is an untapped sector that has a huge potential of contributing significantly to the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

One young lady who heeded the President’s call is Lorraine Kinnear, a 22-year-old Palapye native, raised in Gaborone. 

She is a blogger turned photographer and has been working hard at merging her two interests.

“My interest in photography grew from the work I have been doing in blogging and I have not looked back,” she said, adding that she has been blogging for three years, but her interest in photography developed a year ago.

She indicated that her photographs are available in an online portfolio in the form of her blog and have a great following.

Speaking on her art, Lorraine said so far she is appreciative of the fact that her art has opened up her thinking.

“I do not look at the world the way I used to and I have also developed a lot of human relations over art. 

Art has contributed a great deal to my personal growth,” she said.

“It is like my eyes only grew wide open about how beautiful Botswana is after I stood behind the lens,” said Lorraine.

She indicated that she is currently working on a new project featuring Batswana called The Portraits Marathon.

“This will be a form of gratitude to my country and it will be available online and people can check for updates on my twitter handle @ellekinnear92 and my blog lorrainekinnear92.blogspot.com,” she said.

Speaking on women in art in Botswana, Lorraine said there is a lot of talent in women, but sometimes they hold themselves back with the idea that their male counterparts will always do better than them.

“I used to have the same mental state until one day it dawned on me that photography, and any other art form, only involves your faith in your work,” she said, indicating that women need to stand up and believe in their abilities and forget about gender.

“Just be good at what you do because there isn’t anyone stopping you,” she chipped in.

She said the art environment in Botswana is pretty decent, but mostly dominated by males.

“The University of Botswana’s Fine Art programme is also helping to bridge that gap between women and men,” she said, also adding that women still need a bit of a nudge in presentation of their art.

She further said art appreciation among Batswana is still lacking.

“Even trying to get people to an art exhibition is a real challenge even though we have established exhibition spaces in Botswana,” she said.

She said Botswana needs a strong educational curriculum on art as this would encourage interest from young age.

Lorraine applauded government and other stakeholders for the initiatives that have been aimed at growing the arts in the country.

It is very encouraging to see artists embracing new multimedia technology and taking advantage of it to advance their art.

Artists have been called upon to embrace emerging technologies and incorporate them to help expose and sell their art, something Lorraine seems to be heading to. ENDS