Ncg'abe (Nxabe) Tase
Born in 1955, Botswana artist Ncg’abe is one of the last remaining original Kuru artists in the Kuru Art Project today.
She joined the Kuru Art Project in 1992 together with her close friend Cg’ose Ntcox’o. Apart from visual art, Ncg’abe is a keen traditional dancer and musician, and she and Xgaiga, her husband, are founder members of the Nharo Giraffe Dance Group.
Although she also makes beautiful linoleum prints, etchings and lithographs, Ncg’abe prefers to work with oil paint on canvas. The large-scale canvasses give her more freedom and directness, which is difficult to get with printmaking techniques.
She loves to portray strange combinations of plants, birds, and other creatures like snakes and insects. The leaves, twigs, and creatures in her art sometimes form abstract patterns with great appeal.
She also depicts beadwork patterns and the patterns on the shaved skin aprons that form part of the traditional attire of her San people, which she remembers her grandmothers having made many years ago.
Read More
