Volume 65 December 2026-January 2026 : Art & Culture

After a rain soaked Gaborone day, the sun set to give way to an unseasonal evening chill that greeted art aficionados congregated around the Alliance Francaise de Gaborone, whose walls were adorned by aesthetically pleasing Wilson Ngoni paintings.

As they toast the French wine and grape juice on offer at the launch of the Miniatures By Wilson Ngoni Exhibition, the audience got momentarily stunned as Ngoni, one of Botswana’s most accomplished visual artists declares that he has had enough of doing the mundane, and is quitting his normal art.
After an initial pause, Ngoni explains that the work of preparing for this exhibition had been difficult and he had also had the time to reflect, deciding that going forward, he will paint in a different style.
Instead of his regular style-mostly realism landscape art (the depiction of natural scenery such as hills, valleys, trees, forests and wildlife), Ngoni will now transition into other subjects such as portraits.
The exhibition, curated by Thabo Kgatlwane, Director of Cellar Door Arts, showcased Ngoni’s pieces in miniature art form for the first time.
Miniature art showcases small paintings that can be held by the palm of the hand in contrast to the larger pieces Ngoni is famed for.
“Three weeks back when we organised this show, I had to start working on these small canvases. I fell ill for one and a half week and I stretched myself really hard the rest of the time and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do miniature art again, it was challenging.” He says. In order to complete the art pieces in time for the exhibition, Ngoni says he had to borrow from his ‘Magotsetso Series’ where he had been painting fireplaces, to augment the miniature art.
The short, intense time working on miniature art, the genre of small detailed paintings that is considered lucrative in global art markets, left Ngoni considering overhauling his entire painting style.
To the Alliance Francaise audience, Ngoni dropped the bombshell, “I’m quitting painting.” After a stunned silence, the audience were relieved to hear him add, “from now on, I’ll be doing art differently. I’ll now focus on portraits.”
Upon being probed further, Ngoni clarifies that it felt quite mundane making very similar exhibitions of the same realism landscape art-the wildlife, the hills, the Basarwa and countryside people, the fireplaces and he just felt the urge to be doing something different going forward.
“I need new inspiration. Over the years as an artist, you grow in terms of your intent and your perspectives shift and even what is going on in the world has an impact. My next work will be very different from what we’ve seen. We get inspired, we change and we shift. I will start by painting portraits, Wilson Ngoni portraits and portraits of clients,” he said.
Exhibition curator Kgatlwane says he met Ngoni a few years prior and this was their third exhibition together.
“The first was held in Maun and I enjoy working with him. Wilson is a self-taught artist. We are accustomed to seeing the larger pieces from him, but this time we decided to do miniature art. Each of these pieces are cheaper than the value of the previous larger pieces and should afford art collectors the opportunity to purchase at a reasonable price,” Kgatlwane said.
Anne-Charlotte Monneret, the Director of the Alliance Française de Gaborone says their mission is to promote arts, culture and dialogue and they were thus excited to be hosting Ngoni’s exhibition.
Noting that some of his pieces already adorn their office library and reception area, Monneret said Ngoni’s work is exceptional and internationally acclaimed and they were justifiably pleased to continue partnering with him in the exhibition.
The 47-year-old Ngoni, an accomplished painter and writer, has been a leading artist for over two decades and his work has been exhibited in different parts of the world.
His profile caught the attention of international media, including American news television giant CNN. Now, on an uncharacteristically chilly summer night, he shares with Gaborone art lovers, to borrow from William Shakespeare’s book title, his Mid Summer Night’s Dream- a vision to transition into new inspiration and voyage into unchartered terrain. ENDS

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