Djamal Ntagara’s paintings proudly grace the walls of Uburanga Art gallery in Kimihurura. His artwork incisively dissects the true nature of life and human values.

His artwork, which doesn’t only include painting but also experimenting with other forms of visual art, depicts a person who’s finally settled on his true passion.

One of the pieces ‘Black Market’, an acrylic painting depicts women moving in a group with baskets containing farm produce balanced on their head. They’re on their way to the market to sell the products.

Why Ntagara chose Black Market as the name of the painting is quite ironical since these women are on their way to make an honest living. However, he says that the painting is a tribute to his mother who was a businessperson and a talented craftswoman.

The painting is an artistic appreciation of the role women in the family.

"For many years, women have been instrumental in fighting for family survival. They take responsibility to improve social and economic conditions in the home. They labour in the fields and do business of selling food in the market. I used to see how my mother struggled to raise us through sheer hard work and this piece was influenced by that memory,” he adds.

Another piece, Unknown Feelings is an intricate colourful painting of different faces which show different emotions people experience in the bittersweet journey of life. The ten faces laid on the canvas show such varied emotional faces of sadness, joy, grief and pain among others. It’s Ntagara’s delicate use and balance of colour that visibly brings out these emotions.

He says that "sometimes our emotions are so deep within us that we don’t know how to let them come out and shine in daylight. If you listen carefully, your heart speaks the language of the unknown.”

Ntagara artistically brings out the dream motif which normally occupies our minds most of the time. Somewhere in Our Dreams, is also an acrylic semi abstract painting, of a person living in an impoverished neighbourhood. Juxtaposing this neighbourhood are tall buildings of the affluent and the man is depicted dreaming about crossing the road that divides the two socially and economically diverse neighbourhoods to his dream paradise.

Ntagara talks of how his mother influenced him to be the artist he is today.

"I ventured into art at the end of 2013.  Before this, I had a coffee shop business that had started making losses and instead of fixing the problems it was facing, I just decided to jump into a new venture: painting.”

But it was seeing how my mother used to balance her love for business and art-she was good at batik-that had a profound influence on the direction I took later in my life. I want to be a great artist to show her that her work in raising us through hardship also didn’t go down the drains,” says Ntagara.

The self-taught artist is also now collaborating with University of Rwanda, through Student Endowment Fund, to teach a group of 15 students with disabilities paintings, making jewellery, necklaces, earrings and postcards to enable them have skills that will help them have sustainable income in future.

Ntagara says that through arts, "we artists should aspire to create a better society to live in.

Ford Bosco, the chairperson of the fund, says that they chose to work with Ntagara because he’s shown incredible talent and charitable spirit to share his experience in art with those who also need to harness their skills.