The inaugural travel and tourism arts exhibition took place over the week, with Bantshwanetse Kebalepile emerging the winner pocketing P 10,000.00 for her piece.
Kebalepile with her masterpiece titled, ‘weaving for the future’ beat about 20 other contestants for the inaugural exhibition prize money.
The artists were tasked with creating an art piece either in photography, painting, and or sculpture under the theme ‘culture and tourism inspired artworks.’
Speaking at the handover ceremony, Thapong Visual Arts Centre Director Reginald Bakwena, explained the criteria the judges used for adjudication.
Bakwena said that amongst others they were looking at creativity and originality, and at whether the artiste followed the theme, craftsmanship, quality and overall impression as well as clarity.
“We needed the art pieces to clearly communicate the message, which is in line with the theme. We were also looking at originality because with art, plagiarism is a very important aspect,” Bakwena explained.
For his part, the organizer of the Travel and Tourism awards, Kagiso Morebodi explained why the decision to infuse art in this year’s tourism exhibition was important.
“The arts are a big factor of tourism and so we felt the need to engage with the artists to make these pieces which essentially showcase our cultural and tourism diversification,” said Morebodi
Commenting on her piece Kebalepile explained that when thinking of what to make, the first person that came to her mind was Cobra.
“For me, Cobra is the epitome of a figure who has amassed a lot of indigenous knowledge. He is the epitome of our roots and where we come from as Batswana We are one nation with a lot of untapped indigenous knowledge,” she said.
The second prize with his photograph titled ‘ The last song of a hunter’ and walking away with P 5,000.00 was Ronie Mongwaketse with the third prize with her piece titled “Botswana baskets’ and walking away with P2,500.00 went to Gofaone Thebeetsile.