BY LORETTA BRIGIDIA MANELE
A renowned local artist has spoken out on the trend of increasing duplicity in the country’s art industry.
“Today’s (on Thursday) local artwork seems to imitate each other, even the use of colour looks the same,” said the former Art lecturer of Solomon Islands College of Higher Education (SICHE) now known as SINU (Solomon Islands National University).
Mr Henry Kalamani of Malaita province expressed that nowadays local artists produce work that looks similar to another artist’s work.
He stressed that as artists, they should produce artwork that is individually creative but embody our country’s symbols like Western province’s famous nguzu nguzu and Malaita province’s gorgeous shell money.
With the Melanesian arts and culture festival approaching, Kalamani urges local artists to show real art, art that is individually inspired but created to illustrate something that depicts the country distinctively.
“As an artist, stick to what you have because through your art you are showing your identity and your identity is your country. I want us to show real art that belongs to us,” he said.
