20 Sep 2017

The coordinator of Thapong Visual Arts Centre says he is grateful for the opportunity afforded Thapong Art Gallery by  Indian artists as it shows the gallery’s growth in attracting renowned foreign artists.

Speaking in an interview, Reginald Bakwena said the exhibition enhanced Thapong’s mandate of helping local artists interact and share ideas with international artists.

“It is very important for the development of our local artists to see how artists from outside the country develop their work, and also how they execute their ideas up close and personal,” he said.

Bakwena also spoke about the gallery’s growing reputation and the importance of having artists from outside the country to exhibit in Botswana.
Gopal Jayaraman, who led the Indian delegation artists  for the exhibition at Thapong, said they had brought eight artists from India and had two local female artists joining in on the exhibition.

He said 35 artworks in different mediums were showcased and that they included spiritual and folklore art.

Jayaraman said he came to Botswana in 2004 and took up the position of senior lecturer at Molepolole College of Education (MEC) until 2015 when he went back to India.

He said back in India he was part of the Art Research Foundation, and that one of its main objective was to have exchange programmes of artists with other countries hence the exhibition at Thapong.

The exhibition titled: Time and Space “will be followed by discussions between us and  Thapong to figure out how many artists from Botswana would love to host back in India on this exchange programme,” he said.

He noted that they also aim to increase the participation of artists in exhibitions, and to invite artists from all over the world  to share and exchange ideas on their different art forms.

“I just received my doctorate recently in South Africa, and I thought it would be a good idea to also come to Botswana and have this exhibition,” he said.

Jayaraman said Botswana had a lot of potential in the arts which should be tapped into to transform the industry.

“We all still have a long way to go but we are on the right track and hopefully generations that come after us will appreciate our efforts and carry on where we would have left off,” he said. Ends