Veteran artist Epa Binamungu on Friday unveiled some of his contemporary art pieces at a 10-day exhibition at Umubano Hotel in Kacyiru.

Dubbed "Pages of the City," Binamungu said the main theme of the exhibition ending on December 15 is to encourage the value of hard work.

Speaking at his farmland cum gallery called Inganzo at Masaka, Kicukiro, Binamungu said that he has been at the forefront of helping young and upcoming artists to cut their teeth in the art industry and he will not relent in ensuring that talented artists have somewhere they can retreat to as they create magnificent artwork from their fertile imagination.

At the farmland is a nearly complete building that he says is going to provide artists with serene environment to practice their artwork. He says that the building will be officially opened early next year and will possess all that artists will require to do their work.

"I'm busy designing this centre to welcome artists from not only Rwanda but the entire region. With the East Africa Community having been resurrected, there's also bound to be an influx of artists from other countries in future and it's only right that they find all systems in place to do their work," he added.

He further said that the art gallery is going to be a centre for artists in the country and beyond, saying that he has dedicated his entire life to promote the once fledgling art industry that reeled when several talented artists were not spared during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

On the exhibition, he says that women hold a special place in his art. He notes that women are the shapers of society and their hard work should be celebrated through the work of art.

Binamungu paid tribute to Rwandan artists who have made sure that art has exponentially grown, adding that the men and women in the industry are the ones to immortalise Rwanda's rich cultural heritage that the coming generations will identify with.