Nkawana�s Regrettable Promise

Chippa Legodimo | Friday November 28, 2014 14:43

 

Nkawana’s Regrettable Promise captures the sad story of men who are emotionally abused by their partners after that promise of love.

The imaginary oil on canvas piece does not only demonstrate the artist’s skill in painting it, it also shows how he effectively uses his imagination to bring to the fore real life situations for debate.

Ironically, Nkawana’s artwork was inspired by a conversation with his younger sister, Rita.

“She raised some interesting issues one day about how many of our men suffer silently from the pain caused by their partners’ behaviour.  We were in agreement about that and once I was alone I thought of working on an art piece that would capture that.  She was actually surprised when I showed her the piece,” he said.

Nkawana labelled the piece Regrettable Promise because, “some women would make a man regret promising to love and care for them”.

While diplomatically avoiding painting all women with the same brush Nkawana said personal experience has taught him to be careful when dealing with women.

“Several times I have been asked by women that I would approach, ‘what car are you driving?’ and this says one thing about such people, that they are only interested in what I might possess. It was interesting to hear my sister who is also a Christian to be raising such a concern because if it was a man one would think of bias,” he said.

On the piece, a sad face of a man is depicted on a tree trunk facing one direction.

The tree, which appears to have once had plenty of fruits, is now left with only two and a flashily dressed woman is seen plucking the other one leaving the tree with only one fruit.

“Art is used to communicate such things. We cannot deny that many people in our society find themselves in a similar situation. Some men who used to be rich are now paupers because of women who would milk them dry and leave them to suffer alone,” he said.

The Limkokwing student said that through the artwork, which he plans to exhibit some time next year, he would inspire people treat each other fairly in relationships.

“First men should not die in silence.  It does not make sense to keep on financing someone’s lavish lifestyle, give a false smile and then frown once you look the other direction. The other thing is that people should not get into relationships for material things. People should love with their hearts not their heads,” he said.