Six contemporary female artists took part in a female artist’s group show at Impact Hub in Kiyovu, Tuesday night.
The show, in celebration of the women’s month of March, attracted contemporary visual artists, both local and international. Works on display ranged from paintings on 3D canvass to scrolls and hand-designed posters espousing women’s emancipation and empowerment.
Artworks on display were all available for sale, while exhibiting artists ranged from the school-educated to the self-taught. Most of the works championed themes of personal expression and creativity.
Some of the exhibiting artists included Greta Ingabire, Poupoute Tabaro, Ivy Dickson, Lola Laxmi, Hortance Kamikazi, Dabrath Lincka, and Hirwa Gasana.
The exhibition was also interactive, with some of the posters bearing messages and questions that called for a response from showgoers.
“What does self-empowerment look like for women/girls?” read a question at the top of one of the hand-crafted posters.
Showgoers then scribbled down their thoughts in form of hash tags like #Fearless, #Independent, #Speak up, #SelfLove, and #Sharing.
“I created these two pieces in 2016 during a former visit to Kigali,” Lola explained, adding that she will be staging a solo exhibition in Kigali in May.
“I am deeply moved by culture and humanity. My art incorporates aspects of indigenous identities throughout all the bodies of my work,” she added.
For her part, Tabaro exhibited seven scrolls that were inspired by her residency at a boutique hotel in Kampala last year.
“Theses scrolls were inspired by the collective experience of living with musicians and music producers from the Nyege Nyege music festival,” Tabaro said.
The show was curated by Judith Kaine of Kurema, Kureba, Kwiga, a social enterprise that uses street art to engage civil society to promote positive social change.
“Impact Hub Kigali wanted something that involved only female visual artists so they contacted Kurema, Kurema, Kwiga which in turn contacted us and it is interesting because it is only talented women, as well as the emerging ones that we only met today, and it’s all about women empowerment,” said Judith.