Izabiriza traces his journey to the 'art wall of fame'

Moses Izabiriza is a modern narrative painter, who is steadily ascending the heights of the arts industry in the country. His works have become widely recognised for their ability to transcend the natural states of space and time. Izabiriza has participated in several art exhibitions in the country, including the Imango Mundi which brought together local and artists from Uganda and Tanzania. He also took part in the peace building art exhibition that was organised by US embassy in Kigali, last year. “I have been able to compete in many festivals and this helped me to gain more experience and to be able to interact with different painters. “ For the exhibition at the US embassy, we were required to draw a portrait of Martin Luther King,” he said. The 23-year-old was born in 1992 in Rusizi District in the Western Province, and is a survivor of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. “I was born in Cyangugu but my family moved to Kigali when I was only one year old. My mother was killed in the Genocide and I survived together with my father and my siblings,” he says. Izabiriza barely remembers much about his mother but all he knows is that she was a great tailor and she liked it. He enrolled at IFAK School in Kimihurura in 2000 and completed secondary from Ape-Rugunga in Kigali. His passion for painting started from an early age. “I was definitely a kid who was always drawing or painting from an early age. I just loved it! My love of drawing and painting is definitely a part of who I am,” says Izabiriza “At the age of 10, I could make art pieces from wires, which I picked from our neighbourhood. I would also make motor cycles from the wires and we would ride them with my friend,” he recalls. However, it was until 2011, when he was in senior five that he realised that he could actually make a living from art. Izabiriza then joined Ivuka art gallery in Kacyiru, where he got the experience and exposure that he had always longed for. Izabiriza will host an exhibition at Ivuka art, along with three other local painters, on May 23. Izabiriza cites Jean Bosco Bakunzi, Collins Sekajugo and Leornado Da Vinci, as some of his role models in the art world.

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Izabiriza traces his journey to the 'art wall of fame'