A few words about your artistic career
I am an emerging choreographer and visual artist from Rwanda. I am currently based in Kigali and since 2015 I have been exploring themes such as: the body, memory, identity and the power of visuals.
How long have you been an artist?
I started formal dance performances in 2010. In 2014 I started creating my own work in dance theatre and a year later in visual arts.
Why did you apply for this scholarship? How will the scholarship support you?
I applied for this grant because I want to continue working, creating, collaborating and sharing my art with the world. It's also a good opportunity for my visibility as an emerging Rwandan contemporary artist on international artistic platforms.
What are your concrete artistic objectives after this residency?
I want to be able to engage with other colleagues in Kigali and continue to explore this new medium of digital art work with other future personal projects. I want to be able to start initiating as many other possible collaborations with different regional artists, institutions and art companies as we redefine the new norms of working in the art industry.
What did you achieve during this creative residency? What is the result (work created)? Who was involved in the creative process?
On 4 August, we began the process of creating the choreography with mainly 7 young local dancers and choreographers, a visual artist and a music producer to accompany us on our journey. The whole process lasted two weeks, and from the 15th to the 20th we presented our show and toured around the city. At the end of the most difficult part, we embarked on the post-production of the photo shoots and the short film, which took us around 3 weeks.
How do you think these activities help us to think about the world today, in relation to the COVID-19 crisis, and/or about building for the future?
The whole of Kigali on the Horizon prompts my local and international audience to think deeply about what is happening in particular here in Kigali through my fictional characters, my choreographic materials and the visual symbolism of my series of photographs and my short film. Some of my non-artist viewers have said that even though there are no words in my artwork, they have managed to grasp the power of the work.
How did you feel during the residency? And afterwards?
The main aim of this work was to express ourselves artistically and use different art forms to bring out the authenticity of our experience of life in Kigali in relation to the Covid19 pandemic and the future. To achieve this, we gave ourselves the right to dream and to merge these experiences with reality, hence the idea of the fictional concept of the work "Kigali on the Horizon".
In fact, we learnt a lot during the creative process through collaboration with different local artists in different artistic departments, from music, fashion, conceptual art, photography, film to dance theatre. It took a lot of confidence, discipline, commitment and resilience to be able to take the whole concept of KIGALI ON THE HORIZON from paper to virtual stage and screen, and in the end we were happy and satisfied with the results.
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Kigali on the Horizon
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