By Evans Dakwa, News Editor
A hammer in hand, a wooden board, thread, tape measure and nails lying around, Oswell Sachinda probably looks like a carpenter who is drenched in some confusion on what he wants to do or achieve. The critical person will probably label him a confused individual who is collecting unrelated items.
That is until you watch him meticulously piece together, gelling the seemingly unconnected items with the patience of a female lion on the hunt and attention to detail and carefulness akin to a soldier whose magazine is left with one bullet in a battlefield.
This is what he loves, it is what he breathes and lives almost on a daily basis. He calls it thread or string art, a form of visual art that he uses to bring to life artistic images that even those who are not really fond of art will marvel at. Using strings to create geometric patterns, designs or images on a surface, typically wood board he makes art looks so simple.
The camera shy Thread Artist took me through technique behind this form of art
“Basically art is about telling a story, after you have created an image in your mind, you can put it on paper, follow it with your drawings on a piece of wood or board, trace the picture with nails and after that you start to do the weaving thread by thread, row by row until the picture you have in mind comes out neatly,” he said.
Sachinda says he has been doing this for just over a year and mastering the technique needed constant practice until he perfected the art and continues to do so till today.
“I was inspired by my boss whom I saw doing it, she started to teach me how to do this type of art until it became a hobby for me, now I can safely say am now better than my teacher,” he adds.
Besides the commercial benefits of the art he does, Sachinda who says he also does it as a hobby reckons it possesses many social benefits.
“For me, I am into African stuff and when I am doing it, I will be sharing my culture as an African, in that sense it helps to preserve our tradition so that it can be passed on from generation to generation through art.”
According to Sachinda, some of the social benefits of thread art and art in general include that it facilitates cross culture understanding, it is very educative because it teaches one to be patient, to pay attention to details, as one has to take time to create something.
“Personally I use string art as therapy against stress and anxiety and I believe art is therapeutic. Art can also play a pivotal role in helping the country deal with the drug problem which the nation is grappling with at the moment, completing the piece gives you a sense of pride, self-worth, and can divert a recovering addict from the cravings to use drugs again.”
Sachinda’s dream is to be able to impart the knowledge of thread art to young people and women so that they can earn a living and reap the social benefits that comes with it.