Local artists given a platform to market themselves internationally

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Artists from the Vhembe area who have been struggling to make it into the international market have been given a big boost and a chance to benefit financially during the Vhatsila Mobile Exhibition (VME) 2022, held at Thavhani Mall from 14 to 26 March 2022.

The project, funded by the Department of Sports Arts and Culture (Mzansi Golden Economy) and run and directed by Mr Oriel Rathogwa from Creative Multimedia, was aimed at giving local artists exposure and assistance on how to market their work around the globe via the Internet.

Rathogwa says the exhibition is going to be an ongoing platform where they seek to create a demand for art by bringing it to the public. “VME has carved its path to unearth the gold in the creative industry by enhancing productivity to create sustainable jobs and ensuring social and economic development. We are going to create a website which will profile the artists and their artworks, so that they are able to show and sell their stuff online. We also call on all visual artists who are interested in publishing their art online to send us their profiles, so that we can include them on the website. We hope their full participation will also show government the need to build an art gallery here, which is one of our dreams. We are excited that the artists were able to communicate with clients and the audience physically, which they are not able to do via social media. Some did not even have an idea how to price their art but left knowing how to charge market-related prices. The feeling was just great,” Rathogwa said.

Mr Nndoweni Malala of the Limpopo Federation of Community Arts Centres could not hide his excitement about the exhibition. “Beyond creating a platform for creative expression for local artists, such programmes stimulate audience development, since it is focused on shoppers and thus stimulate demand for the arts through exposure of new arts consumers in our locality. Our industry can only be competitive if we multiply our efforts to increase consumption of the offerings of the creative sector, thus improving the production and dissemination of local arts content,” he said.

Malala further indicated that to see the participating artists beaming with joy and gratitude for the opportunity to showcase their talent and the platform to interact with potential consumers was heart-warming. “Besides interacting with consumers, the artists also felt that the platform offered a free art-learning environment, since they shared their different experiences and offered each other valuable tips.”

Rathogwa can reached via email at [email protected] or contacted on Tel 0728565914 / 061 449 3875.

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.