Kumasi, June 8, GNA - A two-week exhibition on painting works of Mary Ogembo, an international artist from Kenya opened at the Language and Cultural Centre of the Alliance Francaise at Ahodwo in Kumasi on Wednesday.
Ogembo, one of the 11th 2005 Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Award winners and currently based at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) campus in Kumasi, will be taking a six-month Commonwealth exchange programme in Ghana. The exhibition, being jointly showcased by the British Council and the Alliance Francaise, is on the theme, "African Women, Their Beauty and Duties".
Opening it, Professor Richmond Teye Ackam, Head, Department of Painting and Sculpture at the KNUST, said it was not only Ogembo who is currently based at the KNUST but there is also another Mary from the United States of America who is also being hosted by the university. He said Ogembo had spent all her time doing nothing but painting as a way of making a living and had come to the university to share her experiences with the university.
Ogembo, who is also a sculptor, has worked with international artists including Dinkies Sithole of South Africa, Muhammad Raza of Tanzania, Kizito Maria Kasule of Uganda, Joel Mpah Dooh of Cameroon and David Tremlett of the United Kingdom.
She said she had participated in a number of exhibitions and her works had been displayed in Nairobi, France, Germany, Canada and Zimbabwe where she recently had a three-month residency. Ogembo said her main dream, as an artist was to become one of the World's greatest artists, an artist who shall vividly convey a lot about the African woman through art.
She indicated that it was challenging to be an artist because it needed determination, patience and hard work at all levels. Mr Christophe Carillon, the Director of the Alliance Francaise, announced that the association would organize a Pan-African Festival of Documentary Films from June 16 to 25 in collaboration with K'A Yemena Production in Kumasi.
He said the event dubbed, "Real Life Documentary Festival", was recently organized in Accra and it proved very successful and urged the general public to patronize the programme.
