Indiba Arts Space in collaboration with its group of five Rwandan-based painters are showcasing their best artworks at an ongoing art exhibition dubbed ‘Local Motif ‘phase one art exhibition happening at Indiba Arts Space gallery in Kigali city. Organised by Willy Karekezi, a self-taught painter and founder of Indiba Arts Space together with a group of four painters that the gallery features named Jemima Kakizi, Isaac Iirumva, Eustache Usabimana, and Moses Izabiriza. The exhibition opened Saturday October, 23, at 6 PM, and it is slated to run for a period of one month, closing its doors on November, 20. According to Karekezi, the main objective of this exhibition is to address social challenges among the Rwandan society and beyond. “We wanted people to come back to normal life as the pandemic eases. We also want to spread the healing message through the artworks that we are showcasing. We want to be the impact to the society and also raise awareness around the mental health issues in society, but most importantly to raise interesting conversations regarding social and mental issues,’’ he says. Isaac Iirumva (in black T-shirt), one of the art exhibitors. He further explained that as painters they planned this exhibition as a way to contribute to the social challenges that affect the community. “We want to raise the awareness; many Rwandans don’t consider mental health issues as a problem. We recognised that mental health is real and society needs to be more aware. Through arts, people get to be healed and that’s the other purpose of this exhibition,’’ he adds Talking to Jemima Kakizi, a female painter who is showcasing her artworks at this exhibition, she says that most of her art pieces convey the message of women empowerment. “We are glad that the artworks we do, are welcoming interesting conversations that bring change in the community. We need to speak up about our challenges as women particularly, to address things the society considers as taboo and more. I believe that no one can address our challenges more than us. We are the voice of the society, we want to see people change through the arts we do,’’ she says. Kakizi noted that as a woman who does arts, it encourages her to see herself inspiring many other women to join the career and to raise their voices and speak up about their challenges. She also highlighted that so far the feedback is welcoming and positive. According to Isaac Iirumva, one of the painters who is showcasing his artworks in the exhibition, “It’s really encouraging to see the impact that our works are creating among the community. People are facing these mental issues but they hardly notice them. I personally base my artworks on mental health issues. I want the society to recognise that it’s something real, something that exists and it can be healed through arts,’’ he says. The same view was shared by Gael Iriza, a university student who attended the exhibition. “I have many reasons why I love art. It relieves me and makes me feel good. I am happy that these painters took their time to raise mental health awareness, it is a good and interesting subject to talk about especially after the pandemic,’’ she observed. Karekezi said that they have received alot of feedback and emails from several people who attended the exhibition and saw the artworks so far, saying that they are relieved, which for him, is one of the exhibition’s successes. He also stated that their main goal for the exhibition was to reach a great number of people and that so far, in the short time it has been running, it has reached a large number of people and that everything has gone above and beyond their expectations. Currently, the Indiba Arts Space has contributed a bigger part to the social wellbeing of the community around them by offering them job opportunities and others. “Before Covid-19 took over, we used to organise exhibitions in one of the residents in our neighborhood and share with them a little percentage of the sold artworks during the exhibition. We also contributed to build a house for an old woman here in the neighborhood during the lockdown period. Despite that, we also have a hair salon that offered jobs to many. They are currently making a living out of it. We are grateful that the art we do has a great impact on the community’’ he said. Asked about their future plans after this exhibition, Karekezi said that they plan to do even more projects, and continue to do art that conveys more messages and raise interesting conversations in society. He added that the Local Motif exhibition is an ongoing exhibition that is slated for a period of ten months which will move to different avenues in Kigali, for a period of one month for each selected location.
