Jasiri exhibition a way to highlight women's voices in arts industry

On 15^th April it was the commemoration of the World Art Day themed Shaping the Future for Artists. Soon after the commemoration a collective of women artists launched a two week virtual art exhibition called Jasiri which ends today.

The exhibition aimed at establishing a platform for women in art to showcase their work for better visibility and empower more women to participate in the sector. Promote art as a means of entrepreneurship for Tanzanian women artists.

Jasiri exhibition supported by UN Women brought together 40 painted and sketched art works from nine promising and up-and-coming Tanzanian women artists. Available interview by The Beat shows that women who took  part in the exhibition  had an opportunity to use art to mirror  women’s lived realities in Tanzania to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Aisha Mohamed is an artist, poet and painter based in Dar-es-Salaam. Her writing is mainly concerned with her identity, and now has become a necessary part of her art-making process.

She creates abstract mixed-media pieces aiming at making someone think of her artwork with personal emotions and experiences that she has gone through as a woman.

She says, women are left out in this area and looks like there are no great talents in this field. The exhibition and the proper use of the World Art Day has helped women to come together and reminding the society that women are able nad they have talents in this area.

“I am the love of nature. One day on visiting a forest I just thought of having an idea of painting something to express the feelings I come across when visiting nature. This is how I started and to date I am a painter,” she adds.

Magret Liwembe is an abstract artist. Her art mostly stands for women and children as she thinks there is a lot of weak believes that affects women and children welfare in a Tanzanian society. She says, a picture communicates a stronger message than words. She believes through the online exhibition her work has been able to be seen in different parts of the World.

“I submitted three of my works in the exhibition. It was a new experience as you are not able to get an instant feedback of how many people got an opportunity to see your work. But I am sure through the power of internet I will my work have reached so many people and I am looking forward to meet new opportunities in future,” says Liwembe.

A recent press statement by UN Women shows that in Tanzania, as in most of the world,   a significant number of talented female artists have shied away from the sector resulting in the gender stereotypes associated with women in the arts in general. 

The Tingatinga style of painting developed by Edward Saidi and George Lilanga, remains dominated by men, and it is still rare to witness equal numbers of women and male artists at art workshops or markets. Anecdotal reports also indicate that there are inequalities in the recognition and income between male and female artists.

Given above reasons the two female curators Konah Tolbert and Pahuna Sharma who are passionate about local and indigenous art and artists especially women artists decided to organize the exhibition and curate it.

In his speech Mniko Simon is the Executive Secretary of the National Arts Council at the Jasiri Art Exhibition and Webinar themed Empowering Women in the Arts says when it comes to promoting the visual arts, the Council is a firm believer and would therefore like to invite UN Women and the curators of JASIRI to catch artists whilst they are young by hosting similar programmes in local schools.

He says, the Council is in the process of creating workshops targeted towards young girls in our local schools who will get an opportunity to work closely with accomplished female artists as their mentors and experience exhibiting their works to build up their courage and skills.

Through such exhibitions and workshops, the Council believes that girls who are artistically inclined can build the necessary confidence to eventually pursue an art career as well as to take advantage of the platform to express themselves, he adds.

Others are Brenda Kibakaya an emerging visual artist whose focus is painting, Annah Lot Nkyalu is a self taught visual artist working in different mediums especially blue ink (pen), Harrieth Kwetukia a self taught visual artist based in Dar-es-salaam. Hedwiga Tairo who works with watercolours on paper and acrylic paints on canvas. Jennifer Msekwa a Tanzanian visual artist and an environmental activist who creates paintings and drawings combined with natural elements.  Her style is a symbol of creativity and love for nature. Mhelepu Shillingi, she uses charcoal and graphite pencils to make realism artwork. Shiija Masele is painter and makeup artist her educational background in politics informs her artwork, and she uses her multimedia paintings to express her understanding of different topics. The artists are coming from different parts of the country