11 Jan 2016

Like many disciplines where women seem to be lagging behind in participation, visual art in Botswana is also one field that women seem to not be keen on.

Botswana has a hidden world of female artistry that is yet to be discovered and it is only right that the media plays its part in unearthing some of the dazzling female artistes, and reveal stories of courage and determination in the face of insurmountable obstacles women face.

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

Photography is one field of visual art that has a lot of potential and even President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama has cited it as something that could 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 23-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 since,” she said, adding that she has been blogging for three years going on four this year, and her interest in photography developed in 2014.

She indicated that her photographs were  available in an online portfolio in the form of her blog and she has a great following.

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

“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 I only grew eyes now about how beautiful Botswana is after I stood behind the lens,” she said with a chuckle.

She indicated that last year she was working on a project featuring different Batswana called The Portraits Marathon.

“This was a form of gratitude to my country and it was available online on my blog lorrainekinnear92.blogspot.com and also a bit of updates were put on my twitter handle @ellekinnear92,” 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 the faith you have 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 to share their work.

She further said art appreciation in Botswana is still lacking.

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

She further said Botswana needs a strong educational curriculum on art as this would encourage interest from a young age. Lorraine applauded the government and other stakeholders for the initiatives that have been aimed at growing art in the country.

“It is very encouraging to see artistes embracing new multimedia technology and taking advantage of it to advance their art,” she  said. Ends