Introduced to the magic of art by his mother as a six-year-old, Prince Tom discovered he had a real talent for bringing drawings to life.
The Mmadinare native has turned that ability into a livelihood, deciding to pursue his passion for painting full-time, scoring big deals with corporates to paint murals in their offices.
Soaring like the butterflies that have become his trademark, the 27-year-old Limkokwing graduate lights up the Celeb Edition canvas this week.
How did you end up as an artist?
My Art is greatly inspired by my childhood and how much I adore women, simply because I was raised by them and got to experience their love to the core.
I believe every artist paints what they are!
My late mother is the greatest inspiration behind my art.
I never went to school to study fine arts, but was introduced to art by my mother at the age of about six and I never looked back from there.
That is why whenever I paint I incorporate some butterflies in there as a tribute to her.
All my paintings belong to her and the butterflies represent her, because she loved gardening and butterflies love flowers.
What type of artist are you?
I am a fine artist, but I don’t usually like to define Art and the type of artist I think I am, for I am forever evolving and defining things sometimes limits us big time.
I am more than just an Artist, I am a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none.
I can write, speak, paint, draw, motivate, and heal, design, do photography, brand advertising, mural works just to mention but a few.
Like Kendrick Lamar said, “I live in cycadian rhythms of a shooting star, I can heal and give you art.”
On average, how long does it take you to complete a piece?
I can’t say exactly how long it takes me to finish an art piece, for the measure of true artistry cannot be quantified.
The answers we often seek from true artistry cannot be reached until God stretches His hand.
Art is poetry in motion.
Greater depth leads to greater understanding, and for me my spiritual enlightenment is the only answer to how long I can produce an artwork.
Sometimes it takes a few hours, days, weeks or months.
What’s the highlight of your career to date?
There are so many highlights that I could share but the biggest one of them all was the day I picked up a brush to paint, and hosting my first ever solo exhibition which was an ode to my mother titled ‘The Ballad if a Butterfly Solo Exhibition’ in 2022 and 2023.
There’s also the solo and group exhibitions that I’ve done since 2016, meeting Presidents and former Presidents and Ambassadors of great countries such as the USA and UK, selling my artwork to other continents of the world, being able to paint for my local people here in Botswana, and getting to work with other creatives from different industries such as Mosako, Charma Gal, DJ Kuchi, Khoi San, our former Miss Botswana and the current Miss Africa, Lesego Chombo.
As an artist, what kind of challenges do you face?
Every career has its own challenges, and every stage of life we encounter comes with its own challenges so I do not like to dwell much on challenges.
I believe that the more we talk about them, the more we embrace them, and I’m not one to embrace challenges.
I only view them as our learning curves.
So yeah, we do encounter a lot of learning curves along the way, and they help shape our wisdom and mould us into becoming what we are.
Tell us five things people don’t know about you?
I’m half Motswana and half Zimbabwean.
I don’t do alcohol, cigarettes and drugs. I am drugs.
I love sports, athletics and martial arts.
I wish I was good at those!
