As Rwanda and friends commemorate the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, a week-long exhibition dubbed ‘Upright Women’ was launched on April 10, at Imbuga City Walk to honor and celebrate the courage and resilience of women. The exhibition expected to run until April 14, will showcase the ‘Upright Women’ art installation, led by artist Bruce Clarke to honor and celebrate the unwavering strength of women in rebuilding a shattered nation after the Genocide. Each brushstroke tells a story of survival, determination, and hope for a brighter future. During the opening of the exhibition different women artists did a musical performance and a reading on ‘Upright Women’. Among the artists were Andersonne Uwineza, Claudia Shimwa, Bahali Ruth, Carine Poet and Miziguruka. Jean Damascene Bizimana, Minister of National Unity and Civic Engagement highlighted the extraordinary courage of Rwandan women. He explained that in the years 59-63, men and boys were killed first, which means that the women were left alone to educate the children. And often in very difficult conditions, material and human conditions, conditions of society, but these women were of extraordinary courage. In his speech he also said that all the villages of Rwanda, had very young women, widows, whose husbands were killed and lived by resilience. “Women always have courage, they come before us, before men. They got together to create an association, an association of women of the genocide of April, to be able to live, despite the pain they had. An act like this is to think of these different names, these different people, who gave meaning to life. “In the Rwandan culture, women always had a primordial role. There are a lot of proverbs and dictionaries that say this. Where there is a woman, there is a man or where there is a woman, there is a man. So, a woman is the heart of the family. I thank the artists who made this primordial role of the woman revive in the Rwandan culture, and the role that she continues to play now,” he said. Andersonne Uwineza, a singer and poet who was among the performers, said that this project reminded her of women who keep pushing even when it is not feasible. “We don't talk enough about how women had to raise families on their own and this project gives them their honor, it was hard but they did it. The contribution of women is not just important but it’s what made most of the things happen,” she said. This musical performance also put together different writings of different women and men who acknowledged the strength and resilience of Rwandan women. ‘Upright Women’ pays tribute to women's essential role in Rwanda's recovery. The ‘Upright Women’ project came from the ‘Upright Men’ project which was initially conceived for the 20th commemoration of the Genocide.
