This year marks exactly thirty years since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi ravaged Rwanda. Although it may sound like a long time, in the hearts of many Rwandans, it feels like yesterday.
“The wounds are still fresh, and it will take a while before they heal”, Jemima Kakizi remarked. Nonetheless, she, like many others born before or after the Genocide, refuse to let the past define them.
Kakizi is a compassionate artist who for the past years, has dedicated her craft to Rwanda’s healing, a journey she embarked on in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, after she enrolled for a course in counseling at Lighthouse Counselling and Training Center.
According to her, this step was an ‘eye-opener’, hence, despite having practiced art since 2013, alongside other professions (fashion designing and marketing), she prioritized art.
Kakizi believes art has the power to heal both the present and future generations of Rwanda.
Kakizi, whose art targets less popular topics in people’s discussions, believes art has the power to heal both the present and future generations of Rwanda.
In 2022, she founded ‘Impundu Arts’, a virtual art center that brings together Rwandan women in art, nurtures them, and gives them space to express their talent. The platform provides a safe space for participants to open up about different topics, from rape, domestic violence, teenage pregnancies, and mental health, without being judged.
“After taking a class in counseling, I knew I wanted to use art to talk about mental health”, she explained, recounting how she grew up in a society where people did ‘certain’ things that she only got to understand after going for counseling.
“Going for counseling helped me understand the different ways people could let their emotions out, and as an artist, this helped me use different mediums to talk about mental health”. She added.
Driven by passion, and a burning desire to bring about change, Kakizi curated a mental health project dubbed ‘Walk with Me’ that encouraged people to support one another. The project ran for three weeks at L’espace in Kigali, before spreading to other parts of Rwanda.
It brought together various female artists, mental health specialists, and young people, who not only participated in the days’ activities but also shared openly about their experiences, leaving Jemima’s heart full of gratitude, a joy she still expresses when recalling what tran spired at that time.
“During the exhibition, we had a counselor and a panel discussion. I saw people opening up, sharing ideas on how to deal with emotions, young people coming out to paint with us, it was just massive,” Kakizi recounts.
On how ‘art can be used as a tool for healing and remembrance in post-genocide Rwanda, Jemima explains that “Art is a universal language where you can talk to someone without really saying a word”.
Referring to one of her paintings titled ‘Understood’- portrayed in the form of a person being hugged, Kakizi says that with art, one can relate to something from their experience that lets out their emotions which leads to healing.
“Take for instance coloring, much as many people think it’s a game for kids, it’s actually therapy. When you color something or draw, you’re letting out your emotions, just like how you writers do it.”
“Through Art, we can start conversations, preserve memories, and view things from different angles”
Acknowledging that Rwandans are preserved, which inhibits them from expressing their thoughts, Kakizi is optimistic that through art, they will speak out, hence heal. To her, healing is very crucial because a healed community is an unstoppable community.
“Through Art, we can start conversations, preserve memories, and view things from different angles”, she remarks.
However, she concedes that healing is a process and that everyone heals differently, nonetheless, Kakizi is proud of how far Rwanda has come as a nation and she eagerly awaits what the future holds for the ‘Heart of Africa’.
As a women empowerment enthusiast, Kakizi says this is the perfect time to be a woman in Rwanda and she can’t be any prouder.
Walking down memory lane from her childhood, all she can remember are the injustices women encountered to joining the art industry which was typically male dominated.
with utmost determination, Kakizi decided to defy the odds, originally starting off as a fashion designer-making clothes, earrings and shoes, until she became a force to reckon in the arts industry in Rwanda and beyond.
In 2023, she was nominated for ‘Forbes Women Africa Social Impact Awards’, short-listed among the 32 Rwandan women change makers, and recently nominated in the Women Entrepreneur Awards under the category of arts and culture.
Even then, the sky is not the limit for the talented curator, together with five other female Rwandan artists, they will be holding an art exhibition in Geneva-Switzerland, dubbed ‘Fierce Femmes’ from April 18th to July 4th, where they will express different concepts; particularly what it means to be a Rwandan woman, thirty years after the Genocide.
Moreover, before the end of this year, she plans on opening up a physical space for ‘Impundu Arts’ to further stretch her advocacy for women in art.
In her words: “I am always on the look for women artists because I don’t want to be the only person in the picture. I want us to grow collectively through sharing opportunities with everyone.”
Kakizi attributes her success to collaboration with fellow artists emphasizing the beauty of working as a team, and for emerging female artists, her wish is for them to make it in the industry with so much ease than she did.
“We have a lot of emerging women in visual art which is promising, everything is a journey but I am happy with where we are now. At least the advocacy has worked”, she remarked, her face brimming with pride.
Kakizi was born and raised in Kigali-Rwanda, the last born of seven. Not only is she a visual artist, but a curator, fashion designer, and Marketing specialist, a degree she obtained from Mount Kenya University Rwanda-now Mount Kigali University.
As a creative, she likes going for walks, road trips, listening to podcasts, and reading as it helps her to refresh and be creative, and for therapy, the gym is her go-to.
Photos by Dushric
