By Hlengiwe Ndlovu | 2018-12-19
WITH an economy that is not doing so well, coupled with scarce job opportunities, many young people in Eswatini are pursuing burning passions like painting, creating clothing brands and fine tuning their skills to make money for themselves and creating employment opportunities for their peers.
This also goes for young artist Lihle Mhlanga who, last Friday, made his debut exhibition at Mhlume Country Club.
In an interview with the Business Desk, Mhlanga said he adopted a fresh new approach in his local exhibitions by taking his work to far flung areas like Mhlume.
“For a change, I thought as an artist, it would be lovely to exhibit my work outside the Mbabane/Manzini corridor because that is where most activities take place,” he said.
Mhlanga mostly showcases his work in South Africa where he broke into the live stage painting industry a couple of years ago.
With live stage paintings, the young artist transforms poetry and theatre performances into paintings.
Transform
“With live stage paintings, I transform what is being acted out by other artists such as poets and actors to beautiful paintings.
“My paintings must be done within an hour or less but the bottom line is that the painting must be done as soon as the performance is completed,” he said.
Even though Mhlanga has developed his art range to depict many societal issues, his bias tends to be tilted towards women and children.
“While I try as an artist to diversify my portfolio, I keep finding myself doing work that celebrates African women and children,” he said, adding that he was all too familiar with both the struggles and triumphs faced by women in the continent.
Mhlanga said while fine art is a personal passion with him, it is also his bread and butter as it is his main source of income. The most expensive painting he has ever sold by far was at a Sicalo Foundation auction held a couple of years back which fetched E75 000.
In the meantime, he believes the fine art industry can explode to greater heights and that more young people can make a living out of it if it is developed to more professional levels.
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