Officiating at the exhibition, the deputy coordinator of the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Golekanye Setume said the Nna le Seabe HIV/AIDS awareness exhibition is programmed to coincide with the World AIDS Day. "The exhibition represents a vital contribution by the visual arts in combating the scourge of HIV/AIDS in Botswana. The programme is now nearly eight-years-old and has seen phenomenal growth with notable milestones over the past years.
"This growth has, over the past two years, manifested itself through positive and forward-looking collaborations with external organisations that have a similar mission."
Setume went on: "For instance, I am told that joint exhibitions have been held with the Fine Arts Department of the University of Durban. Through this collaboration, the famous Break the Silence print portfolio was integrated into this exhibition. This was important as it provided a benchmark on how complex issues of HIV/AIDS are articulated by artists beyond our borders."
He revealed that the Department of Arts and Culture has extended its collaboration with locally based organisations dedicated to fighting AIDS/HIV. He said short seminars on the response to HIV and AIDS were delivered by organisations like the Harvard AIDS Institute, NACA, Tebelopele Voluntary Counselling and Testing Centre and the Department of Women's Affairs. "These organisations helped the artists to build knowledge that would help them understand the dynamics of the scourge so that they can effectively communicate through visual representation."
Setume said there were also externally based organisations that were part of the presentations.
He said the launch of the exhibition comes just a week after the commemoration of the World AIDS Day, which was held in Palapye on December 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment