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Published: March 29th 2011
As always, I will remind you, dear reader, that these words are my own and do not represent the United States Peace Corps, the Federal Government, or any other of the vast bureaucracies of the USA, infamous or unknown. The opinions shared here have not been condoned by any bureaucrat, living or dead, and I have not fallen prey to illusions of grandeur that would lead me to believe that either have they been condemned. And to misquote that cutie, Clark Gable, “Frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn.” If that hasn’t bored you to death, please read on.
I want to tell you about a friend of ours, a wonderful artist, named Wilson Ngoni. (You can find him on Facebook.) He is in his early thirties, lives and creates here in Kopong, and shares his life with his beautiful daughter and her equally beautiful mother. We have been blessed to get to know them.
Steve had met Wilson briefly several weeks before I did, and we’d seen some of his work at the National Gallery in Gaborone. The day I met Wilson I’d arrived at the community library in Kopong to meet a friend and found him
standing in the library grounds deeply engaged in conversation with Wilson. He had a spiral bound book with photos of his artwork and some of his writings. The librarian, my friend, and I all spent quite some time paging through the book with Wilson as we listened with interest to the story of his journey as an artist and explanations of some of his work.
He’s done many pieces reflecting the devastation that AIDS brought to his country. Some of his surreal landscapes make me think of the work of Salvador Dali while other pieces are realistic and highly detailed. His work reflects many aspects of Botswana including wildlife, landscape, village scenes, and portraits. When the King of Sweden recently visited Botswana, he was presented with one of Wilson’s paintings.
Over these past few months we’ve had the pleasure of Wilson’s company on many occasions. An avid gardener, Wilson took as to a beautiful garden and plant nursery in the capital. He’s taken us to the lands where we’ve seen Botswana as I imagine it must have looked fifty years ago. We’ve seen the broad vistas of piled boulders and the wide desert valley from the hills near
Lensweletau. He has visited our home. We’ve spent hours looking through his notebooks filled with sketches and experimental works using a variety of media. He now seems to have found his home with oil paints and the results are astounding.
I’ve had the pleasure of attending two of Wilson’s exhibits, one at a gallery and gift shop on the outskirts of Gaborone, the other at a gallery called Topong Art Gallery where resident artists can frequently be observed while working. The photos I’ve included in the blog can’t possible do justice to his work, but they will give you and idea of the range of his talents. Please note that the titles are my own, I don't know what he has titled each of these works. I'm sure something much more suitable than what I've done, but I can't publish them to the blog without a title.
We are grateful to have acquired one of the paintings that he named as a favorite of his and will be carefully bringing it back with us for family and friends to enjoy along with us.
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carol hackney
non-member comment
Beautiful paintings
I am glad you forwarded these through your blog. they are beautiful. Thanks. Hope you and Steve continue to thrive. Look me up when you're back. carol hackney www.qilcoaching.com carol.hackney@earthlink.net