Using art as a motivational tool

Maureen Odubeng | Friday April 15, 2016 11:58

 

Many visual artists use their talent, and skill to communicate, and the mode has been labelled as one of the most effective.

George is no different as she uses her artistic skill to come up with artworks, which will not only decorate space, but also tell stories that she hopes will inspire people to look at life and their situations differently. 

The young woman from Selebi Phikwe says she was drawn to art from a tender age.  She explained that she enjoyed drawing as a child and would go to great lengths to ensure that her drawings were perfect. After that she found herself excelling through art classes from her junior to secondary school days.

“I studies art from my Form One till my Form Five and got an A* in my Form Five final exam.  Whenever I draw or paint I feel at peace and comfortable like its my utopia,” she said.

George uses a lot of colour in her artworks, which is not surprising as she says she gets her inspiration from cartoon characters.

The young woman has an interesting painting of the South African anti-apartheid revolutionary icon, and the first black president of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.  In her painting, George captures the late Mandela’s dream of turning South Africa into a rainbow nation free of racial divisions, which existed during the apartheid years.

Mandela’s smiling face is decorated in rainbow colours.

“It is a tribute to the great icon and I tried to interpret his dream of the rainbow nation signified by the bright colours,” George said.

Another one of her works is a lion, which is also quite colourful, which she says shows the power and strength within a person.  She said often times people believe that strength and power come with being ruthless, which in her view is not necessarily true.  She explained that the painting is meant to show that one can be as strong as a lion, but still possess good qualities.

She further explained that her painting of a Chihuahua shows that size does not define a person, explaining that even tiny people can go on to accomplish great things in life.

She said her elephant artwork is meant to show that challenges can be overcome, no matter how major.  Apart from using colour to tell a story with her art, George said she also believes it brings life to a space. 

“For me as an artist I think artists should bring hope and also inspire people to look at life and their situations differently,” she said.

George said while she loves sitting down with her brushes and paints, she believes it is important to get an education, and as such her priority right now is attaining her degree, which she believes will help her grow as an artist.

“Art is a part of me, without it I am nothing,” she said.