[ad_1]
Rwanda’s Imigongo painting tradition, a 200-year-old Tutsi art form made from cow dung, has experienced a resurgence in the Great Lakes nation three decades after the 1994 genocide, becoming a symbol of culture and unity. Known for its embossed black and white patterns, the imigoongo is widely believed to have been invented by a Tutsi prince in the 19th century. Prince Kakira mixed cow dung and ash to create a material that he used to create three-dimensional patterns on the walls of his palace in the Gisaka Kingdom of eastern Rwanda.
This tradition was named “umugongo”, the word for “spine” in Kinyarwanda, because of its curved lines, and it became popular in rural homes where women used cow dung and mud, clay and aloe vera to decorate their homes. She used natural colors made from juice. Basiris Uwamaria, founder of the Kakira Imigongo cooperative in the eastern Kirehe district, told AFP she started making art when she was 15.
But this tradition was nearly destroyed by the 1994 genocide targeting the Tutsi minority, in which almost all 15 members of Uwamaria’s cooperative were killed in a bloodbath that left some 800,000 people dead in Rwanda, including moderate Hutus. She lost her husband and many relatives, leaving her to fend for herself and her two sons. “I was living in darkness, in silence,” the 53-year-old recalled, recalling the loneliness that inspired her to revive the cooperative in 1996 and invite other genocide survivors to join. .
Since then, Imigongo has evolved. Traditional patterns exist as well as modern designs with different colours. Natural colors have been replaced by commercial paints. Imigongo designs have made their way into upmarket studios and fashion boutiques, decorating garments and wooden artworks alike, to a market that includes foreigners and Rwandans.
According to Theoneste Nzeimana, manager of Azizi Life Studio in the capital Kigali, the tradition was once largely limited to eastern Rwanda. “But after the genocide everything was destroyed… people started thinking about how they could bring back their culture,” he told AFP. Today, not only Tutsi, but all Rwandans appreciate Imigongo. “
“Imigongo is something that brings people together,” she said, adding that the Kigali boutique and studio hosts painting classes for students who range in age from four to 75. It is also commercially useful, he said, as its instantly recognizable patterns help market “made in Rwanda” designs around the world.
[ad_2]
