Society

Birth of an art

Mosaic, the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of coloured glass, stone or tiles randomly cut or fragmented and closely inlayed, dates back to the Third Century in Mesopotamia.

The art serves both decorative and illustrative purposes and it is a splendid means of artistic expression. Owing to its versatility and impressive expression, it can be adapted to many needs—little wonder, in the Fourth Century Christians adopted mosaics to decorate walls and ceilings of their basilicas.portrait

In Malawi, one of the most exquisite series of mosaics are those put together by 39-year-old Madalitso Chipwaila.

His average sized series tell a lot of stories in a succinct and dazzling detail at just a glance.

Art runs through the Chipwaila’s family—his brother, Chris Kele, was once a renowned musician—but art, let alone mosaic art, was not the career he had in mind.

“I studied marketing in the early 1990s and later worked for a while. I left the job to establish my own business. In 2010, I applied for a job over the Internet that I had no idea of. It was not even my field. In fact, it was my first time to hear about mosaic art,” says the Salima-based artist.

He got the courage to apply, he says, because the advertiser promised to train two successful candidates.

“To my surprise, I was selected alongside someone from DR Congo,” he says.

Soon after, however, Chipwaila was apprehensive about whether he could cut it in the exclusive art form that uses glasses, stones and ceramic tiles to decorate or draw pictures.

“I developed a passion to grow in the industry. This was more so when I discovered that it was a new form of art that has been introduced in Africa and I was one of the very first black people to acquire such skills,” he narrates.

The opportunity to be one of the pioneers of such an industry in Southern and Central Africa was too good for Chipwaila to pass up, so he enrolled at a mosaic academy while he was working.

He duly reaped rich rewards in April 2010 when he was named the best mosaic artist of the month in Cape Town.

His exploits have also seen him facilitate mosaic and art workshops to several schools and community groups in Malawi as well as in the region.

“I have facilitated mosaic workshops in high school as well as at the University of Western Cape, one of the biggest universities in Africa.

“I have been involved in both small and big mosaic projects within Cape Town and other surrounding countries. One of the greatest mosaic projects we did in East London took me a lot of time to finish,” says Chipwaila.

He observes that there is a lot of wealth of ideas and inspiration to be found in mosaic art.

He further states that of art forms, mosaic is the closest to painting as they both represent a two-dimensional image. Mosaic art, however, has an edge over painting in that, among other advantages, it has guaranteed durability.

Completing a piece of mosaic art, however, is no stroll in the park. It takes time and painstaking patience, depending on the size of the project.

He explains: “If I am mosaicking a picture, it may take me three days of working hours. The toughest part of it is to balance the colours from dark to light or light to dark to give a true character of a picture. Remember, we are putting small pieces of different colours of glasses to create an image. Some huge projects can last even three months or more.”

Mosaic art, according to Chipwaila, can also have therapeutic effects as it enriches the brain and increases one’s thinking capacity.

“It is believed that mosaic art refreshes the brain and helps those suffering from trauma to stabilise during the mosaic sessions. It also helps the learners to think logically while increasing their thinking capability,” he states.

Chipwaila observes that Malawi possesses in great abundance locally available raw materials—such as terrazzo stones, broken pieces of glass and other materials that are considered wastes—which can be used for mosaic art.

“I found it important to bring this form of art to my own beloved country with the intention to create job opportunities, stimulate creativity in Malawi, introducing glass recycling process that is currently not available in our country, modernising interior and exterior outlook of our infrastructures and utilisation of available resources that can be transformed into mosaic art.

“We can export raw materials. Mosaic art is playing a major role in other countries and China is the leading manufacturer and supplier of mosaic products. Malawi can benefit from the relationship between the two countries by supplying materials or finished products.

“The stones that are used for making mosaics in South Africa, for instance, have to be imported from China, yet we are just wasting them in Malawi,” he states.

Chipwaila, who hails from Chikwawa, has since introduced mosaic art classes in Salima and Lilongwe.

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