Healing wounds through art

Arts is one of the most important aspects in the prevention of crimes against humanity since it is one of the ‘languages’ that can be spoken to bring about peace, according to Bonheur Pacifique, of Aegis Trust, an organisation that runs the Gisozi Genocide memorial site. He said this yesterday to highlight the various aspects of the 2nd edition of the 4-day event that starts on Thursday. “We do believe that arts is one of the tools and languages that can be used to help us in creating peace, and we also believe that others can also use it to prevent any eventual crime against humanity,” Pacifique said. Through arts, empathy is revived and compassion is revealed and with this, people ought to prevent committing similar mistakes that hurt them in the past. Using arts, history of dark chapters for human beings can be revealed because at a certain point, one is taught on how to critically think. If poems, drawings and speeches have been used to promote propaganda, Pacifique showed that it is with similar tools should be used to promote peace. “Arts is a language that opens wounds but also heals them and as long as this happens any eventual crime is prevented. We believe also that using arts is one way of educating the young generation about history and hence a future that is assured to be peaceful,” he added. Hope Azeda, the brains behind the festival testified that the festival is taking big strides and is impacting the lives of Rwandans and the rest of the world. “Obviously the festival is a big testimony, it’s a fact that we are actually on the right track. When we started we were only giving it a try, we were like let’s just dive in this sea and see how deep it is, but it has actually taken a step,” Azeda said. She said that with the first edition they didn’t know what to expect and were only hoping for the best, however the show turned out a success. “Last year, we didn’t know how it was going to be and we were expecting like 500 people per night but thousands turned up and for us that was a great proof that actually this festival is a much needed space not only in our society but also for the world,” she added. This year’s festival there are 18 countries coming up, 23 performances but most importantly the festival has grown from two days to four days and that’s huge in terms of everything. The festival’s organising team is conscious of the great importance of the selected venue and the picked dates that fall at the end of the country’s 100 days of commemoration of the 1994 genocide. All performances are carefully selected and aim at fostering dialogue and reflection to prevent crimes against humanity. The event has grown impressively since last year and has doubled in length; with two additional days, one dedicated themes around children and the other, to themes around women. For four days artists from different countries will bring their captivating performances around motifs of humanity, conflict and peace to the heart of Rwanda. Performances will range from song to theatre, physical performances and dance covering varying topics such as; the genocides that took place in Rwanda and Cambodia, the conflicts between Catholics and Protestants in northern Ireland that gained new topically due to the recent developments around Brexit, the experiences of Syrian and Burundian refugees the impact of the violence during the Arab Spring, and so much more. The event will be held from the 14th to 17th of July at the outdoor amphitheatre of the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Healing wounds through art