Shadrack Kayiranga is a budding visual artist and a member of the Ivuka Art Center. Perhaps not very popular among visual artists but his desire to share love and art seems no less passionate.

At first glance, he appears to be the young man, eager to learn from the maestros, but after seeing his portraits, you see Kayiranga as the talent ready to take on the scene. The artist has been painting for a couple of years now.

Born in July, 1984 in the DR Congo, Kayiranga lived with his parents and six siblings as refugees. 

"Living as refugees in Congo was not a bed of roses. We were reminded daily that we were foreigners. We didn’t have the normal life that people living in their country of birth have, but at least we thanked God that we were alive. And in fact, we were not expected to achieve anything,” he says.

The first tragedy that plagued his life was the death of his father in 1987. Being the sole breadwinner, his father’s death dealt a terrible blow to the young family. 

"We were shackled with poverty and hopelessness. Our mother couldn’t take care of all of us since she had no reliable source of income. Sometimes we were forced to sleep hungry, hoping that the next day would be better,” he recalls.

The 29-year-old artist describes how his mother unwittingly made the decision to return to Rwanda, and how that decision was to prove to be a tragic one with the loss of his two siblings during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

Kayiranga says that life as refugees was emotionally breaking down his mother. "My mother wanted all of us to come back to our country-Rwanda, but I think by good luck, I refused, telling her that I had to complete my school term first.”

She did come, with two of his siblings and after only a few months, the Genocide broke out. By this time, his mother had gone back to DR Congo, but she had left behind the unfortunate two, whose lives were ended in cruel death together with the rest of his maternal side of the family.

"I would also have died, and remembering my siblings and how they brutally met their death is always a haunting experience to me. And the fact that my father had to die and be buried in exile often brings back some sad memories.”

The family eventually returned in 1995 after the country had been liberated from the killings. Back in Kigali, Kayiranga enrolled under the mentorship of Geoffrey Kalonji, an established visual artist who taught him more skills.

He joined Ivuka in 2011 and he says doing artwork now serves as some form of catharsis. "When I’m busy producing my art pieces, It helps me forget the pain of thinking about my dad who died in exile and my siblings together with other relatives whose lives were cut short by those faceless cowards who ended innocent lives.

Kayiranga now takes care of his mother and the rest of his siblings through his artwork. Most of his paintings depict human suffering and offering solutions through them. 

editorial@newtimes.co.rw