He is minute in stature, but his artistic prowess is larger than life. We witness him transform a blank sheet of paper into a portrait of President Peter Mutharika in about two hours from a picture on an I-pad.
His father is amazed at the talent. Readers of NationOnline were equally dazed when we posted a video of him working with his pencil.
“This talent is amazing,” one reader said.
“Ndi dolo [he is an expert],” another said.
Yet another simply read: “Get him to draw Ayobe Junior.”
Welcome to the world of the soft-speaking Miracle Witikani.
When he came to the Nation Publications Limited (NPL) offices in Blantyre, Miracle brought some of his previous work. One was a portrait of Blantyre City Mayor Isaac Jomo Osman, another was for Inkosi ya Makhosi Gomani II, taken from his picture on the K50 note. Yet another depicted a zebra, full of life.
In an interview, Miracle said he only discovered his art while at Mulunguzi Primary School in Chilomoni Township, Blantyre where he has sat this year’s Primary School Leaving Certificate of education (PSLCE) examination.
“My friends kept asking me to draw things for them. It is a pleasant feeling to fill a blank page with a drawing. I just look at things and draw them,” says the third born-son in a family of five.
But he has his time to draw, not to disturb his time in class.
Said Miracle: “Drawing is so much fun for me but I only draw at home during weekends or after classes.
“It is my dream to do visual arts at tertiary level so that I can grow and teach others as well. I would enjoy to work on billboards for companies and organisations in future.”
Not to let his drawings to disturb his future, Miracle says he has not yet thought of commercialising his art, as that would take his time.
His father Stewart Andiseni Witikani says he has been amazed at his son’s art since he was in Standard Three and was being commissioned by his teachers to draw aids for lessons.
Witikani, who comes from Singano Village in Traditional Authority Ngabu in Chikwawa, said he knew it was only God who gave the boy the talent. He added that his brother Hastings, who works with Blantyre Adventist Hospital, could at times draw, and he was in the past infusing some crude art lessons.
“But Hastings never reached this stage. It is evident that students go way past their teachers. In the early days, he was just drawing animals but the day he did a portrait of his mother, I knew he was destined for greater things,” he said.
According to the father, they encourage Miracle to work hard in class and make it to college like his sister Madeleine who is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts (Humanities) degree at the University of Malawi.
NPL artist Ralph Mawera said young artists like Miracle have to be encouraged as they will be a rare breed in the face of artificial intelligence (AI) where every Jim and Jack can work out illustrations with digital prompts on mobile phones and personal computers.
Says the Ayobe creator: “He is a steady artist with a promising future. He really knows his way with balancing the aesthetics of his portraits. I only urge him to work more and more on illustrations because these kind of artists will be a rare breed with the coming of AI.”
