ArtReach and Yebo! Art Gallery were pleased to host two artists from Finland for a week in January. Jukka Jarvinen (representing Oulu Artist’s Association) and Anna Ruth (representing Jyvaskyla Artists Association) were visiting on a fact-finding grant from the Finnish Government, with the aim of exploring the potential for visual arts collaborations between Swaziland and Finland.
Official Press Release:
Finnish Artists Jukka Järvinen and Anna Ruth visited the Kingdom of Swaziland 2 weeks ago in order to have meetings with local organisation Yebo! ArtReach and meet local visual artists. ArtReach is an NGO set up by Yebo art Gallery with the aim of developing awareness and access to the arts in Swaziland. This excursion was made possible with the support of the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for development projects between NGOs. The purpose of this trip was to initiate a collaborative development project and to build social relations between the partners involved.
"There is a lot of potential in Swaziland," observed project leader, artist Jukka Järvinen, who is also a teacher of visual culture and an art critic. "This trip made made me understand that a local art school and other opportunities for development of the arts (and artists) are urgently needed in Swaziland. Now that we are back in Finland we will concentrate our energy on the preparation of the official application for this project. Our goal is, as soon as 2014, to launch a three-year art training project together with Yebo! ArtReach "
"The project will be initiated by the Jyväskylä Artists’ Association in Finland, but the Artists’ Association of Oulu is also interested in joining the project. Both are regional Finnish artist associations and together they have over three hundred members. This project would send 6-9 Finnish artists to Swaziland to instruct a group of local artists towards improving their professional practices, as well as their own teaching skills. I also hope to come and share my expertise”
Anna Ruth said in an interview that “I was chosen by the Jyväskylä Artists’ Association to represent the interests of the artists of Central Finland this development project proposal headed by Jukka Järvinen. The initial intent of the project, and the reason for our visit to the Kingdom of Swaziland, was to develop a collaborative project with ArtReach and the artists at Yebo! Gallery and to discover what other forms of collaboration could emerge.
My experience of the Kingdom of Swaziland was incredibly intense and rich. We spent the entire one-week trip meeting with artists and representatives of the arts in Swaziland, visiting working spaces, and discussing potential collaborations. We saw how everybody had a fervent determination to develop and uplift the arts. On my behalf, as an independent member of the Artists’ Association of Jyväskylä and as the Artistic Director of Äkkigalleria, I see a very promising future in which the artists of Jyväskylä and the artists of Swaziland will collaborate. The exact form has not yet been determined but I hope to see more than one project evolve in the near future with both Yebo! Gallery and Yebo! ArtReach.
We had a wonderful visit and we would like to thank Yebo! Gallery and ArtReach along with the artist community of Swaziland for sharing their time, energy and inspiration with us.
ArtReach Chairman, Dane Armstrong, is grateful to the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs for sponsoring the trip and allowing for this intense week of cultural cooperation. He said “We have seen such a positive reception to the work we have already done, and need to take our work to the next level. We work together with local artists, many of whom need to to further develop their skills in order to teach others and run their own projects. In order to do this successfully we would definitely benefit from the assistance from Finland as artists there are highly qualified and experienced. Now we will continue making plans between Swaziland and Finland, and hopefully we will have some final developments for the future by the end of the year.”
Sunshine Nxumalo, one of the 14 artists officially represented by Yebo art gallery and who also has worked with ArtReach during the project at School for the Deaf, was one of the artists showing the Finns around. “I drove them around Manzini, we visited Bhekani “Spoko Design”Dlamini’s studio at Matsapha, Mbongeni Fakudzes studio, visited the CEO of SNCAC Stanley Dlamini, showed them Manzini market etc. I really enjoyed talking with them about art and our different cultures, it was so interesting! I hope the project does happen as there is so much I would like to learn. It would be a great opportunity for all us artists in Swaziland and Finland.”
The Finns interacting with some of the Swazi Artists: Sunshine Nxumalo, Mesuli Mamba & Bhekani Spoko Dlamini
