04 Feb 2016

The Bot50 committee has engaged 16 young artists to make signs, some of which are visible in traffic roundabouts in Gaborone.

Reginald Bakwena, Thapong Visual Arts Centre coordinator, said in an interview that the idea behind the initiative was to involve the youth in the independence celebrations.

“The other main objective of the project is to create employment for the youth and not allow them to roam the streets doing nothing,” he said.

Bakwena said the project would take two-three months and within that period, they would engage as many young artists as possible.

“The 16 that have been engaged were sourced from surrounding areas such as Mogoditshane, Ramotswa, Mochudi, Kopong and Molepolole to mention but a few and after they are done, we will engage another group from villages further from Gaborone,”’ he said.

He said they hoped to cover as many villages as they could and the hope was that their work would be displayed in those villages prior to the celebrations.

“We also hope to further train these young artists and impart knowledge going forward on what it takes to be an artist of high calibre. We also want the youth to own the spirit of this year’s independence celebrations,”’ said Bakwena.

On how they engaged the artists on this project, Bakwena said they had a database of artists and if it happened that they did not find anyone, they would contact the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture for help.

He said the artists had a fee given to them for the time of their engagement.

“We also provide them with food and transport during that time,” he said.

One of the engaged artists, Goemeone Modisane from Metsimotlhabe said they attended a workshop at Thapong Visual Arts Centre organised by Bots50 to teach them on how they could use art to be part of the independence celebrations.

“Some of the artworks found around Gaborone have been done by some of my colleagues I am attending the workshop with,” he said.

He indicated that he was a member of Thapong since 2004.

“So far I have collaborated with Wilson Ngoni and Ditshupo Mogapi and have also held a few exhibitions of my work,” he said. Modisane said the initiative by Bots50 was a welcome step and as artists, they were looking forward to more of the same. ENDS