5 Cultural Producers Shaping Rwanda’s Creative Landscape
By Something CuratedA landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley, where the African Great Lakes region and East Africa converge, Rwanda’s terrain is highly elevated, giving it the soubriquet, “land of thousand hills.” With its geography dominated by mountains in the west and savanna to the east, the country is filled with numerous mineral-dense lakes. Boasting a long and rich cultural history, music and dance are an integral part of Rwandan ceremonies, festivals, social gatherings and storytelling. Traditionally, drums are of great importance, and the royal drummers famously enjoyed high status within the Rwandan court. Today, arts and crafts are produced throughout the country, although most originated as functional items rather than purely for decoration. Regional woven baskets and bowls are especially common, notably the basket style of the agaseke. In recent decades, a growing community of young artists and multidisciplinary creatives have put the nation’s burgeoning contemporary arts scene on the map. To learn more, Something Curated takes a closer look at five cultural producers shaping Rwanda’s creative landscape.
Cedric Mizero
Born and raised in a small village in the Western Province of Rwanda, self-taught multidisciplinary artist Cedric Mizero’s work embraces the exchange of ideas and meaningful collaborative relationships, celebrating the voices of many diverse fellow artists and artisans with the intention of drawing attention to the people of the rural and poor areas of Rwanda. Traversing numerous mediums, from paint and textiles to, most recently, film, the artist’s fascinating practice utilises garments as a means to tell complex stories. Mizero was selected to participate in the BFC’s International Fashion Showcase in 2019, hosted at London’s Somerset House, going onto present his body of work, A New Life in the Village, at The Store X.
Innocent Nkurunziza
Innocent Nkurunziza is at the forefront of the growing Rwandan fine art scene. The artist co-founded Inema Art Center with his brother and fellow painter, Emmanuel Nkuranga. Expanding on his practice, the artist tells: “The dynamic rhythm of nature, people, colours and texture within my world are the basis from which my art is derived. There are no objects too utilitarian to escape the potential for artistic creation. My self-taught process allows me a freedom of exploration uninhibited by rules or expectation. The courage and conviction that I use to create is a gift that has matured since my first artistic expressions as a young boy in Uganda working with crayon and paper. Those explorations led my work in mixed media, sculpture, paint, and jewellery design.”
Odile Katesi Gakire
Odile Katesi Gakire describes herself as a “professional dreamer.” She is a Rwandan playwright, director and cultural entrepreneur. Currently, she is the director of the Woman Cultural Centre (WCC), Rwanda. In 2004, she created Ingoma Nshya, Women Initiatives, the first-ever women’s drum company in the country. Through this initiative she worked on the programme I Have A Drum, which aimed to secure a place for women in the percussion arena. More recently, she launched the project Mumataha, Remember Me…, commemorating the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Expanding into realms of publishing, video, radio and theatre, the project has at its core a collection of letters written to the dead, that turns isolated grief into collaborative life.
Strong Karakire
Born in 1989 in Kigali, Rwanda, where he lives and works, Strong Karakire is a self-taught multidisciplinary artist, whose practice is largely built around his love of painting. Exploring themes critically linked to the human experience, from love and justice, to compassion for the needy, Karakire’s work is quietly political, expressed through soft brushstrokes, most often depicting quotidian scenes, from bustling streets to a still life showing a table laden with empty wine and beer bottles.
Chris Schwagga
Christian Mbanza, known professionally as Chris Schwagga, is a Rwanda based artist, born in Burundi and raised in Congo who started his journey with art in 2005 with a two-megapixel point-and-shoot camera. His inspiration comes from people and travelling as well as elements of the cultures of the countries he moves between. Schwagga’s work is driven by curiosity. Paired with his appetite for design, this inspired him to explore and experiment with different mediums, disciplines and materials beyond photography to express himself in a way that connects with people and tells unique stories. Schwagga has experimented with sculptures, installations and costumes which have been featured in exhibitions across Africa and Europe.
Feature image: Childhood by Cedric Mizero, 2020. Courtesy Cedric Mizero