Ashley Jantjies

Growing up around exhibitions, artists and workshops inspired Alina Mateke to study art and pursue it as a career.
The Zambian born artist who is based in Namibia, uses her social media for both commissioned and personal work, describes herself as a creative person, who loved to play with colours and crafts for as long as she can remember, but in 2011 while in high school, she took an interest in realistic portraits.

 “Art allows me to connect with people. I love to write and create characters. Art allows me to visualise characters or concepts and share my ideas with the world in a visual format,” said Mateke.
Her mother, Clare Mateke who is an artist as well and continues to do art while having a full-time job in the science career, is one of her biggest inspirations.
Alina, who had her debut at a solo exhibition in Zambia last year, told UnWrap.online that she participated in over 15 group exhibitions and workshops in her home country, Namibia and Zimbabwe, as such she intends to do more exhibitions and hopefully attend more workshops.

“Born and raised in Zambia, and then having spent quite a few years in Namibia, I don’t feel the art sector gets enough credit in either of these countries. Lockdown for a fact shows how important art is for mental well-being. It keeps us sane when the world is going wild,” explained Alina.
The young artist, who sources her inspiration from many renaissance artists like Leonardo Da Vinci, works professionally with acrylic paint, however, she has a strong passion for pencil and can’t live without her 0.5 mechanical pencils.
She added that the lockdown hinders her ability to meet clients as much as she’d like to, make deliveries and send international parcels in time.

“What I love most about sketching is seeing my subject come to life through my eyes. It’s one thing to take a photo, it is another to translate that into your own style,” ended Alina.

Photos: Contributed