Reviving a Traditional Art Form in Rwanda after Genocide

Imigongo art is known for its raised black and white patterns. LUIS TATO / AFP
Imigongo art is known for its raised black and white patterns. LUIS TATO / AFP
TT

Reviving a Traditional Art Form in Rwanda after Genocide

Imigongo art is known for its raised black and white patterns. LUIS TATO / AFP
Imigongo art is known for its raised black and white patterns. LUIS TATO / AFP

A 200-year-old Tutsi art form made with cow dung, Rwanda's imigongo painting tradition has experienced a revival in the Great Lakes nation three decades after the 1994 genocide, becoming a symbol of culture and unity.
Known for its raised black and white patterns, imigongo is widely believed to have been invented by a Tutsi prince in the 19th century, AFP said.
Prince Kakira mixed cow dung and ash to create a material which he used to paint three-dimensional patterns on the walls of his palace in eastern Rwanda's Gisaka kingdom.
The tradition was named after "umugongo", the Kinyarwanda word for "spine", owing to its curved lines, and became popular among rural households where women would use dung and natural pigments made with soil, clay and aloe sap to decorate their homes.
Basirice Uwamariya, founder of the Kakira Imigongo Cooperative in eastern Kirehe district, told AFP she started making art when she was 15.
But the 1994 genocide targeting the Tutsi minority nearly wiped out the tradition, with almost all 15 members of Uwamariya's cooperative killed in a bloodbath that claimed around 800,000 lives across Rwanda, including moderate Hutus.
She lost her husband and multiple relatives, leaving her to fend for herself and her two sons.
"I lived in darkness, in silence," the 53-year-old said, recalling the loneliness that pushed her to revive the cooperative in 1996 and invite other genocide survivors to join her.
Since then, imigongo has evolved.
Traditional patterns exist side by side with modern designs featuring various colors. Natural pigments have been replaced by commercial paints.
Imigongo designs have made their way to upmarket studios and fashion boutiques, adorning garments and wooden artifacts alike, with a market that includes foreigners and Rwandans.
According to Theoneste Nizeyimana, manager of Azizi Life Studio in the capital Kigali, the tradition was once largely limited to eastern Rwanda.
"But after the genocide destroyed everything... people started thinking about how they can bring back their culture. Today, imigongo is appreciated by all Rwandans, not just Tutsi," he told AFP.
"Imigongo is something that brings people together," he said, pointing out that the Kigali boutique and studio holds painting classes for students whose ages range from four to 75 years old.
It also makes business sense, he said, with its instantly recognizable patterns helping to market "made in Rwanda" designs around the world.



Japan’s Sado Mines Added to World Heritage List

This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)
This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)
TT

Japan’s Sado Mines Added to World Heritage List

This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)
This photo taken on May 9, 2022 shows a mine on Sado island. (AFP)

A network of mines on a Japanese island infamous for using conscripted wartime labor was added to UNESCO's World Heritage register Saturday after South Korea dropped earlier objections to its listing.

The Sado gold and silver mines, now a popular tourist attraction, are believed to have started operating as early as the 12th century and produced until after World War II.

Japan had put a case for World Heritage listing because of their lengthy history and the artisanal mining techniques used there at a time when European mines had turned to mechanization.

The proposal was opposed by Seoul when it was first put because of the use of involuntary Korean labor during World War II, when Japan occupied the Korean peninsula.

UNESCO confirmed the listing of the mines at its ongoing committee meeting in New Delhi on Saturday after a bid highlighting its archaeological preservation of "mining activities and social and labor organization".

"I would like to wholeheartedly welcome the inscription... and pay sincere tribute to the long-standing efforts of the local people which made this possible," Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa said in a statement.

The World Heritage effort was years in the making, inspired in part by the successful recognition of a silver mine in western Japan's Shimane region.

South Korea's foreign ministry said it had agreed to the listing "on the condition that Japan faithfully implements the recommendation... to reflect the 'full history' at the Sado Gold Mine site and takes proactive measures to that end."

Historians have argued that recruitment conditions at the mine effectively amounted to forced labor, and that Korean workers faced significantly harsher conditions than their Japanese counterparts.

"Discrimination did exist," Toyomi Asano, a professor of history of Japanese politics at Tokyo's Waseda University, told AFP in 2022.

"Their working conditions were very bad and dangerous. The most dangerous jobs were allocated to them."

Also added to the list on Saturday was the Beijing Central Axis, a collection of former imperial palaces and gardens in the Chinese capital.

The UNESCO committee meeting runs until Wednesday.