This year, Rwanda will celebrate 30 year- journey of rebirth and resilience, but the national archives have grappled with a scarcity of tangible documentation for a pre tragic Rwanda. To help to fill this gap, the ongoing “Visual Memories of Rwanda” exhibition is showcasing a tapestry of Rwandan heritage that has been retrieved and curated for public consumption. Currently taking place at Rwanda Arts Museum, the exhibition is a collaborative project between the Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy and the Swiss Agency for Development and cooperation. The exhibition features a series of photographs with historical relevance captured between 1930 and 1980. The exquisite portraits and nature landscapes emulate Rwanda’s cultural norms and natural beauty from that specific time period, and every photograph tells a different story. “In the 1980’s it was very rare and expensive for institutions to have cameras, let alone individuals. Our national archives could not acquire and preserve audio visual heritage which is why the acquisition of these photos means a lot to us. The few items we have were donated by our European counterparts because they had more access to storytelling mediums and they graciously offered the photographs,” said Robert Masozera, director general of the Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy, at the opening of the exhibition. Supported by the Swiss Development Cooperation, a dedicated team of curators collected the various photographs from Rwanda’s expat families and utilized cutting edge AI technology to revitalize the photographs, which is made undeniable by the exceptional quality of each photograph and the meticulous attention to detail in each frame. “Arts and culture are the pillars on which identity and diversity fall. It mirrors one’s values, traditions and aspirations. Switzerland has been implementing a program to uphold and support arts and culture, and the project to collect and digitize and share photos of Rwanda from 1930 to 1980 that has been in development for the last two years has been a significant achievement,” Dr. Marc De Santis, Regional Director of the Swiss Cooperation added. One of the fascinating aspects of the exhibitions is the portraits showing cultural practices such as boys reshaping one another’s amasunzu, moments of the intore (Rwandan cultural dancers) frozen in time from one of their choreographies, and various photographs of the royal family that depict King Mutara III Rudahigwa as the epitome of elegance and class. One of the photos features him lounging by in a chair reading a book and a cigar within arm’s reach. One of the more captivating pictures of the king is that of him and Queen Gicanda casually having a conversation in what seems to be their living room alongside a servant there to attend to any needs they might have. The two royals seem to maintaining eye contact and the cigar in the king’s hand and fashion sense adds significantly to the appeal, especially when the lounging photos are placed side by side with the official portraits where both he and the queen pose in their mishanana and crowns. The most riveting installation of the exhibition is excerpts from an award-winning Hollywood movie that was shot in a variety of African countries, including Rwanda. The excerpted scenes from Hollywood classic “King Solomon’s mine” were shot in 1949. The plot centers around an exiled king returning home to reclaim his throne and making three European friends along the way, who among other things, added onto the comic relief. The exiled king and the Europeans communicated in Swahili, and watching the Europeans trying to make sense of the Kinyarwanda that they were met with was quite hilarious. The king’s palace featured in the movie was a replica of the palace in Nyanza, reconstructed for the production set. Practices such as dancing and singing for the king (which present day traditional dances partially capture) brought out the arts and culture aspect of the film; especially the lead Intore dancing in a gap separating two sets of drummers, men jamming on traditional drums being held up by young boys, all with the classic amasunzu. The film also brings out the interesting fashion sense from that time period, and sheds insight into what coup d’etats in monarchial Rwanda looked like, which is single handedly the most exciting scene in the excerpt. Mbabazi Sharangabo, a filmmaker in attendance expressed the view that the screenplay is an articulate portrayal of what Rwanda used to be, making it an integral part of the Rwandan identity. “Solomon’s mine was one of the biggest Hollywood productions shot in Rwanda and it was nominated for the Oscar’s in its time. I think it is very important because people have to understand where they are coming from. Not knowing your past creates a gap in one’s identity and having something like this to learn from fills the gap. It puts a breath of life into us.” Sharangabo also made a contrast between fashion and masculinity, past and present. “The present concept of masculinity is significantly different from the one in the film. Kings for example wore a lot of accessories and jewels back then that wouldn’t be considered masculine in the present day, yet they were the most respected and influential men in their time. It is interesting how much the notions and perception of masculinity have changed.” The 'Visual Memories of Rwanda' exhibition will be showcasing at the Rwanda Arts Museum for a month, and according to Lucas Rosenberg, a lead curator on the project, the exhibition will be showcased in districts such as Musanze, Muhanga and others throughoutpl0 the course of the year.
