Last Friday, a group of talented artists from several arts centres and galleries in Kigali converged at what is now called car-free zone street for the first edition of art dubbed ‘Rwanda Art Exhibition’.

The exhibition attracted different art lovers from all walks of life to support the young artists.

According to one of the organisers of the event, the idea came right after the City of Kigali had introduced the street as a no go area for the cars and motorcycles.

"This street looked quite idle, so we wanted to make use of it, explore its beauty and make people feel that there’s much that can be done through creativity and innovation as well. With the ideas of different artists, we hope to make it a touristic place for different categories of people,” Faustin Kayiranga- Imagine Art Studio based painter said.

Under various types of paints, namely; watercolors, oils and acrylics, artistes did live painting; face painting for the kids, sold memorabilia like t-shirts, scarves and bangles, among others.

Christa Uwase, one of the participants who displayed a creative artwork that she did using the magazine pieces, said that it was a good moment for them to make people understand that there’s more to do with dreams and ideas.

"Having spent more than 4 years in arts, I learnt that there’s much that artistes can do without exactly copying what others do. For instance, this piece of work took me 2 weeks to complete it, but of course with ideas and creativity, I managed to come up with something that pleases people. My whole point of view is that the first step to self-sufficiency is to do the impossible, which is the real message that my artwork carries,” she noted.

Meanwhile, Parveen Kumari Kanda- an Indian lady based in Rwanda, made different pieces showing the rise of Kigali city over the years.

"One piece I did shows different buildings in Kigali, the idea is to make people understand how easier it is to invest in Rwanda. Others also are related directly to the rise of Kigali and the activities being carried out in the city. I definitely want to say that young people can explore every single opportunity they have if they really want to succeed,” she noted.

Strong Karakire, the owner of Imagine Art Studio, said that unfortunately they didn’t manage to do all they planned because they never got the access to power for instance to show the movies as they had planned before, which he thinks is one of the challenges they meet.

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