The National Art Gallery of Namibia’s new chief executive officer Snobia Kaputu has worked at the institution for 14 years. Born in Windhoek and raised by her mother and grandmother on Kapuuo Street in Katutura, Kaputu is the NAGN’s first black woman CEO since the gallery’s inception 17 years ago.
A keeper of Namibia’s cultural heritage since the early 90s when she joined the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture’s Namibia National Cultural troupe as a performer tasked with promoting local traditions, norms and beliefs, Kaputu began her career at the NAGN as assistant to the director in 2003.
In the years since, Kaputu has served as the establishment’s general administration and project manager as well as its finance and human resource manager while earning a diploma in Personnel Management and a BTech in Business Administration at the Namibian University of Science and Technology.
Additionally pursuing her masters in Leadership and Change Management, Kaputu believes her historical memory of the NAGN coupled with her steady rise through the establishment’s ranks put her in a unique position to lead the institution.
“I think my history at the NAGN gives me a unique understanding of the internal workings of the institution and how they relate to each other,” says Kaputu whose passion lies in bringing the creativity of the previously disadvantaged as well as artists in the regions to the fore.
“As a woman, a nurturer, it is important to me to see people reach their full potential. I want to visit the regions and assess their needs in terms of arts and crafts and how we can assist them to make their art viable in the commercial market and not only for domestic use.”
Citing the San as an artistic though underdeveloped community with a rich visual heritage, Kaputu hopes to encourage artists to create with what is at their disposable rather than buying materials and having to uproot to Windhoek in order to stand any chance of being a gainful artist.
“The National Art Gallery of Namibia is not only for the Khomas region,” says Kaputu who aims to establish NAGN art studios to support and develop young artists while honouring the visual art industry at large in an annual awards ceremony.
“NAGN exhibitions have previously been dominated by artists residing in Windhoek, hence the need to visit the regions and identify their hidden talents while embarking on school art programmes like the Come Together art workshops which have recently secured sponsorship from FNB and RMB. This will help in identifying these talents and the power of the media, especially radio, will assist us to interact with our regional artists, youth and the public at large.”
Eager to decentralise the activities of the NAGN while nurturing Namibia’s unique artistic identity, Kaputu plans to return the business focus to the institution’s framing workshop, implement various gallery fees in line with international practices, promote cultural tourism and forge bilateral agreements with SADC galleries in the interest of residencies and artistic exchange while continuing to raise the profile of a profession many see as inferior.
“Art is a profession pupils can pursue from school level, through a tertiary institution and use to contribute to the creative economy, however, the current challenge in Namibia is that our education system doesn’t consider art as a formal subject in the curriculum,” laments Kaputu.
“With the high failing rate of our Grade 10s and 12s, my request to the government is to change art from a non-formal to a formal subject, because not all pupils can become scientists, accountants, etc. If art is considered as a formal subject in the curriculum then pupils will be motivated to choose art at a secondary level and specialise in it at tertiary institutions like Cota or Unam.”
Though many believe the study of art can only parlay into a career as a studio artist, Kaputu argues that it can give birth to professionals as diverse as graphic designers, historians, educators and curators.
“Public art can make our cities beautiful and a centre of tourist attraction, contributing to Namibia’s cultural tourism,” she says, highlighting art’s role in the public sphere.
“Art production and trading in art can also make artists great entrepreneurs who can contribute to the government’s efforts of poverty eradication.”
Hoping to add far larger numbers of the diverse Namibian public to a visitors’ list largely dominated by tourists, Kaputu urges public servants, schools, tour guides and students to visit the gallery or its upcoming mobile exhibitions, to get involved with its on-site events and to keep up to date with its incoming quarterly newsletter.
“I challenge the public, especially the youth, to make time to visit the gallery and interact with us on our social media platforms,” says Kaputu before posing for a photo in the National Art Gallery’s bright new reading corner.
Height formidable, suit neatly pressed, smile befitting a once assistant to the director ready to shine as the first of her kind.
