访问中国的坦桑尼亚画家

REPORT ON AFRICANS ARTISTS IN CHINA
08th APRIL TO 09th JUNE 2009

 

5 African artists participated in China residence program. Here on the Great Wall of China. From left: David Mzuguno (Tanzania) , Amadou Camara Gueye (Senegal), Unknown Name (Translator), Irene Mejane Epic (Cameroon), Pascal Jean Francois Gaspard (Mauritius) and  Mohamed Regaieg (Tunisia)

 

My stay in China was an interesting one. It was indeed an honour for having been chosen by the Ministry of Tanzania for this two months residence workshop. Since the first day I came to Beijing and the last day I left it, I liked all the visits that we went to, such as visits to famous museums, art galleries, historical places, restaurants and shopping places.


BUY MZUGUNO PAINTINGS ON TINGA TINGA STUDIO


Since my arrival in Shenzhen, I grasped every single panorama and cityscape that surrounded me. I was amazed by the landscape where I could see green hills, trees, plants and flowers of various types blooming in a rainbow of colours. These green colours reminded me of my home land and allowed me to indulge myself more easily in my work letting my inspiration flow. In fact, the working environment was so good that I really enjoyed my stay at the Shenzhen Fine Art Institute (SZFAI) especially due to the fact that I encountered no disturbance that could have hindered my creation.

 

David Mzuguno and Mohamed Regaieg on a boat tour

 


I also much appreciated the welcoming of our hosts who made me feel at ease the very first day. They were of caring attention to each and every one of us and always made sure that we had everything we needed for our creation. The Institute also provided us with resource persons and translators for our daily purposes and shopping. The SZFAI planned wonderful excursions, visits to galleries, exhibitions, recreational tours and offered us a symphonic concert to attend as well as a dance representation. I was amazed by their generosity and friendship. In the same way, I was impressed by the disciplined and civilized way of living of the citizens.


I shall cherish for a long period of time that wonderful experience at Shenzhen and thanked all those involved in this project. My thanks go naturally to the staff of the SZFAI whom I admired their dedication to their work and the Ministry of Culture of China for having initiated such an interesting project.

 

David Mzuguno with his fellow artists in Shenzhen


As fulfilling experiences bring us new ideas, I shall hereby propose a few suggestions:

1. A special gallery can be settled to show artworks of past visiting artists in a permanent way so that this could help to keep the memory of those who came in residence and allow the public to broaden their artistic awareness.
2. It would be interesting if the SZFAI, through the government, could invite those participating countries, for example, of the last three years to exhibit and make this event even a triennial. Furthermore, the SZFAI could open a fund in which money collected from sold artworks could be used for the holding of such an artistic event.


Hello Shenzhen, you have given me the opportunity to know a little bit about China. I hope I could be back in a near future.

 

 


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Author: David Mzuguno
Date: 08.07.2009