A paint stroke of history

While some took to social media to express their grief over president Hage Geingob’s recent death, Kanyanga Paulus Simaho turned to art to immortalise Geingob.

The 30-year-old, who lives in Windhoek’s Goreangab settlement, draws during his spare time after work, selling his work at art galleries and receiving commissions for his work.

From portraits of Nelson Mandela to Christine Mboma and Beatrice Masilingi, Simaho is passionate about drawing history-making individuals.

His latest drawing of the late Geingob has not gone unnoticed on social media.

He says he hopes to deliver this drawing to the Geingob family as a comfort gift during their time of mourning.

“The day after the passing of our former president, I decided to do a portrait of him as a way of visual art mourning. The drawing is burned on a hardboard and it is his bright smile that stands out, as it reminds people of how friendly and kind he was to his people,” Simaho told The Namibian earlier this week.

Simaho, who hails from Kaguni village situated 20 kilometres from Rundu, said he started showing an interest in art from the age of five when he would play with clay pots and make toys.

“I moved on to paper at the age of nine. I used to be one of the best artists at every school I attended, but arts was not taken seriously those years, so I ended up not improving and instead making incomplete drawings.

“I attended various schools, but I am a self-taught visual artist who uses different mediums such as charcoal, graphite, pencils, ink pen, acrylics and oil paints, among others,” he said.

Simaho said it was not until he relocated to the capital where he met other self-taught artists that he was re-inspired.

“I met artists who introduced me to pencil shading techniques, including blending materials. After seeing their amazing work, I was more inspired and motivated to keep drawing each day until I started receiving commissions for my work from different people. This became my source of income.

“I also started meeting many more Namibian visual artists for inspiration and I learn from them,” said Simaho, who embarked on a diploma course at the College of the Arts in 2019, but ended up dropping out due the coronavirus pandemic which caused financial constraints.

Simaho’s younger brother Mukotti Muyenga (19) said he also took an interest in visual art, drawing inspiration from his brother’s work.

“He started drawing with pencils only and has always advised me to take up art and follow in his footsteps and I have since followed his advice,” said Muyenga.