A 200-year-old Tutsi art form made with cow dung, Rwanda’s imigongo painting tradition has experienced a revival in the Great Lakes nation three decades after the 1994 genocide, becoming a symbol of culture and unity.
Known for its raised black and white patterns, imigongo 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 paint three-dimensional patterns on the walls of his palace in eastern Rwanda’s Gisaka kingdom.
Photo: Bloomberg
The tradition was named after “umugongo,” the Kinyarwanda word for “spine,” owing to its curved lines, and became popular among rural households where women would use dung and natural pigments made with soil, clay and aloe sap to decorate their homes.
Basirice Uwamariya, founder of the Kakira Imigongo Cooperative in eastern Kirehe District, said she started making art when she was 15.
However, the 1994 genocide targeting the Tutsi minority nearly wiped out the tradition, with almost all 15 members of Uwamariya’s cooperative killed in a bloodbath that claimed about 800,000 lives across Rwanda, including moderate Hutus.
She lost her husband and multiple relatives, leaving her to fend for herself and her two sons.
“I lived in darkness, in silence,” the 53-year-old said, recalling the loneliness that pushed her to revive the cooperative in 1996 and invite other genocide survivors to join her.
Since then, imigongo has evolved. Traditional patterns exist side by side with modern designs featuring various colors. Natural pigments have been replaced by commercial paints. Imigongo designs have made their way to upmarket studios and fashion boutiques, adorning garments and wooden artefacts alike, with a market that includes foreigners and Rwandans.
Theoneste Nizeyimana, manager of Azizi Life Studio in the capital, Kigali, said the tradition was once largely limited to eastern Rwanda.
“But after the genocide destroyed everything ... people started thinking about how they can bring back their culture. Today, imigongo is appreciated by all Rwandans, not just Tutsi,” he said.
“Imigongo is something that brings people together,” he said, pointing out that the Kigali boutique and studio holds painting classes for students whose ages range from four to 75 years old.
It also makes business sense, with its instantly recognizable patterns helping to market “made in Rwanda” designs around the world, he said.
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
A grieving mother has ended her life at a clinic in Switzerland four years after the death of her only child. Wendy Duffy, 56, a physically healthy woman, died at the Pegasos clinic in Basel after struggling to cope with the death of her 23-year-old son, Marcus. The former care worker, from the West Midlands, England, had previously attempted to take her own life. The case comes as assisted dying would not become law in England and Wales after proposed legislation, branded “hopelessly flawed” by opponents, ran out of time. Ruedi Habegger, the founder of Pegasos, described Duffy’s death as
From post offices and parks to stations and even the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s vending machines are ubiquitous, but with the rapid pace of inflation cooling demand for their drinks, operators are being forced to rethink the business. Last month beverage giant DyDo Group Holdings announced it would remove about 20,000 vending machines — about 7 percent of their stock nationwide — by January next year, to “reconstruct a profitable network.” Pokka Sapporo Food & Beverage, based in Nagoya, also said last month it would sell its 40,000-machine operation to Osaka-based Lifedrink Co. “The strength of the vending machine
RSS