Nkawana never ceases to amaze

Chippa Legodimo | Friday August 22, 2014 13:11

 

The piece was exhibited at Thapong Visual Arts Centre, and it attracted a lot of curious visitors.

Nkawana is a good example of a utility craftsman who easily combines various art forms and materials to produce pieces that speak volumes about his imagination and creative spirit.

His latest works reveal the young artist’s big appetite to try different media and concepts to come up with some unique art pieces.

For instance he has produced an abstract piece that combines photography and sculpting.

In this piece Nkawana followed a very simple route, where he sculpted a human skull out of a melon. He then took a photograph of the invention, and printed it into canvas and framed it into an A3-sized picture.

From a distance an observer may see a red half melon with some deep spots and black seeds but a closer look reveals something more interesting, a green skull with a red front part and some small dark spots.

The piece was created last year when panic gripped the whole country due to lack of rains.

“I themed this piece, Oh Lord Fill Our Empty Dams because at the time the nation was going through a rough time.  There was uncertainty as to whether we shall live to see another year because our dams were drying. I created a piece that I felt was relevant to the time and situation,” he said.

He said that the spots, which could otherwise represent the eye sockets, the mouth space and the nose area were symbolic of the drying dams.

The black background, according to the artist, symbolises the dark cloud that was hovering over the country at the time.

“I believe the reason various leaders including president Ian Khama calling for prayer was in recognition of the fact that the lack of rain might have been as a result of our bad deeds and we needed to ask for forgiveness from our creator,” he told Arts & Culture.

Nkawana said that his ‘scary piece’ would be more appropriate for hanging in an office space than a living one.

“I know art can mean different things to different individuals but a skull in the bedroom could bring you nightmares,” he said.

In another interesting piece the young artist has used people’s hands to produce another abstract piece.

Nkawana had conceived a certain image and asked his white friends to help him with an idea where he directed them to hold their hands up in different directions.

What came of the pose was a good work of abstract art that the young man quickly documented with his camera and later transferred to canvas.

At the centre of the image that resembles a human head with a few hairs popping up, are 10 thebe and five pula coins representing the eyes.

The piece is titled, The Love Of Money, The Root Of All Evil, and according to the artist the two coins are a demonstration of greed.

“This is a face of a person whose view of life is about money.  We have plenty of such people, some posing as prophets, priests and so forth.  Their eyes are always popping out for a chance to grab money from unsuspecting victims.  They look at members of the congregation and see an opportunity to make money,” he said.

Nkawana has started expanding his scope by venturing into speak-painting, something which he believes will also improve his skill.