From art to global peace: Meet Namibian ctbto mural competition winner Swanepoel

Brumelda English, the Chief Information Officer and Eshioshange Ten Hasheela, Chief Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, speak to award winning visual artist Jana Swanepoel (JS) about her career and other creative aspects.

Jana, congratulations on your achievement! In 2019, at just 16 years old, you were named one of four winners in your category in the CTBTO global mural competition. Can you tell us what the competition was about and what inspired you to participate?

JS: If my memory serves me well, I believe the competition requested an artwork depicting the ways the CTBTO contributes to protecting earth and helps us to secure a future free of the disastrous effects of nuclear testing. The opportunity to participate was given to the 2019 grade 10 art class at St Paul’s College by our art teachers, Su Naude, Liz Kopf and Yana McDuling. They had given us the competition prompt as an assignment and did the administrative work of scanning and uploading our entries. I would not be here doing this interview without their initiative and effort. I am very grateful to them.

Your artwork was selected from more than 1 000 entries from 25 countries. What was the inspiration behind your winning mural, and what message did you hope to communicate through it?

JS: In terms of artistic inspiration, I tried to involve the styles of watercolourist Kasiq Jungwoo, a master of the wet-on-wet technique, and to the South African muralist Faith XLVII, whose realistic portraits of women convey strong emotive themes. Together they shaped my mural of Mother Nature.

Thematically, when I researched this mural in 2019, I found that the CTBTO does more than work toward a ban on nuclear weapons. Its International Monitoring System (IMS) also helps alert us to dangerous seismic activity, tsunamis and other disasters. That inspired me to make an artwork thanking the organisation on the world’s behalf.

I painted Mother Nature as a symbol of our natural environment, embracing a blue orb that represents the CTBTO and glowing from happiness. Silhouetted figures around her cheer for the organisation, and one pastes a heart on the orb. My message is that an organisation most people have never heard of plays an active role in protecting flora and fauna, and our futures, and it deserves our awareness and gratitude. Above all, I hoped to communicate the benefits of CTBTO’s mission and how its IMS data offers vital contributions to disaster risk reduction.

Your mural conveyed messages of unity, environmental protection and global responsibility. How do these themes connect with your understanding of peace and the importance of preventing nuclear testing and explosion?

JS: Peace is central to my mural’s message. I specifically made the orb the colour blue because it denotes peace and serenity, and the CTBTO’s mission is ultimately one pursuing lasting peace. In terms of the environmental question, if nuclear testing continues, nature pays first, and every living thing pays down the line as a result. We cannot have peace until we feel protected from fallout and disasters. Peace, to me, is therefore not as simple as the end of war. It is the trust, conviviality and security born from countries working together to pursue sustainable life on our planet, free of destruction and violence on the earth and it’s inhabitants. The figures in my mural thus represent people from all over the world, united in celebrating the protection of the world against disasters.

Namibia is a good example of this shared responsibility. Namibia signed the treaty on 24 September 1996, and it deposited its ratification on 29 June 2001. I am proud of our country leading by example as a promoter of worldwide peace.

‘Promoting a World Free from Nuclear Explosions.’ What does this theme mean to you and how did you interpret it through your artwork?

JS: I interpreted the theme by refusing to paint destruction. Instead, I painted what protection looks like: a thriving Mother Nature and happy humanity. The wet-on-wet technique spreads the paint like veins, giving the effect of moss or grass, as if the earth itself is growing.

Most art about nuclear weapons shows destruction. I chose to show the opposite; to show what we could achieve and should aspire to; a living planet that is safe and thankful. The mural shows what a world free from nuclear explosions would feel like, rather than what it should be saved from.

To me, this theme meant a world where no community or ecosystem has to fear another Hiroshima or Nagasaki. In 2019, the figures I found were that about 2,000 nuclear explosions were recorded between 1945 and 1996, and an estimated 14,500 weapons were still in existence, with Russia and the USA owning nearly 7 000 each.

The danger has not faded since I did that research. The Federation of American Scientists puts the global inventory at roughly 12,187 warheads in early 2026, which is fewer than in 2019. But the number in active military stockpiles is increasing again.

It only reaffirms the need to keep advocating for the mission of the CTBTO, to completely eradicate the possibility of Nuclear fallout.

Namibia is currently hosting the CTBTO Integrated Field Exercise 2026 (IFE26), taking place from October to November 2026. As a young Namibian whose artwork promoted a world free from nuclear testing and explosions, how do you feel about your country hosting this important exercise?

JS: I am very happy about Namibia’s active role in the CTBTO’s mission, and being the first African country to host an Integrated Field Exercise makes me incredibly proud. My mural celebrates the monitoring system that detects possible nuclear explosions, and IFE26 tests the next step in preparedness by using a simulation to confirm on the ground what the stations detect and in so doing improve the present testing methods.

How do you motivate young people to use their creativity to raise awareness about nuclear disarmament, environmental protection and the promotion of global peace and other issues affecting their communities?

JS:: While it is my mural that got recognition, I don’t subscribe to creativity only referring to artwork or literature. I am a firm believer that throughout history, our greatest achievements have come first from our ability to approach issues creatively and not follow existing formulas or constraints on “what is possible”. If we apply creative thinking to our world or our country’s problems and use our creativity to construct new future and new possibilities for ourselves, we can overcome so much of what tries to drag us down. If I can give one piece of advice to my fellow young Namibians, is that adulthood tries to dull our ability to dream and imagine; we must not only resist this as we age but also use our creativity while we are young as much as we can to imagine ways in which we can build brighter futures and improve the conditions we find ourselves in. Importantly, I also call the youth to pursue such undertakings collaboratively. Just as CTBTO’s need for ratification proof, community advocation and united efforts are essential for defending peace and prosperity on our planet.

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