An exhibition of the 2022 progress work of the first, second and third-year visual arts, fashion design and new media design students from the College of the Arts (Cota) is currently running at the Namibian Arts Association.

The exhibition titled ‘ArtSplash’ opened on Tuesday, and will run until 13 February 2023.

It showcases printmaking, ceramics, textiles, mixed media paintings, sculptures, object-making, drawings, photography and digital art.

Under visual arts, sculpture students exhibit diverse artworks inspired by carving, assembling and modelling techniques reflecting themes of identity, traditions, technology and nature.

Relieve print-making students explored with Lino cut, ABS Plastic sheets, Tetra Pak Cartons and Mono prints, while the advanced print-making students explored cubism techniques to create cardboard prints by applying different colours to express themes of corruption within our politics, culture and the environment.

Under fashion design, first-year students explored and produced garments from collected recycled materials, whilst drawing inspiration from African and Namibian fashion designs. The second-year collection was based on Western fashion design and cultures around the world, while the third years worked on their own inspiration, depicting stories from their reality and surroundings as well as the gained knowledge during their studies.  

Under new media design, students explored design elements, particularly that of colour in digital illustrations, and explored photography topics in abstraction, post-colonialism, digital storytelling, still-life, portraiture and sustainability initiatives in
Namibia.