"Imagine a world without art, it would probably be boring,” says Ismael Zed Kayimahe, one of the many artists making the world a fun, unique, and creative place through paintings.

When he starts talking about art, a day is not enough. Chatting with him, he puts everything aside to explain the language he understands most, one that involves colour, brushes, and thoughts—art.

The 27-year-old is specialised in acrylic painting on canvas and pencil drawings. Looking at his work, one would think he had some training in sketching or at least painting, principles of drawing, or even how to hold a pencil, but that is not the case.

It’s his passion for art that compelled him to teach himself how to draw. He started drawing anything and everything he saw back in primary school, but at that time, he had to pause it a little bit to focus on his studies. After graduating in travel and tourism management, Kayimahe decided to pursue a course in fashion and design in 2017 at Rwanda Fashion Design Institute.

While there, he focused on fashion illustration, that’s where he started taking sketching seriously. The inspiration and courage to draw was generated again.

In 2019, the artist met Antoine Izere, an illustrator and painter who trained and introduced him to Izihirwe Arts, which was the genesis of his painting journey. He mostly used YouTube tutorials to get skilled in art.

 One of his drawings.

According to Kayimahe, art is a life that brings him joy. His paintings are a reflection of his inspiration, thoughts, and ideas. He is enthused by everyday life, especially in Africa. Most of his art pieces are portraits. He has participated in some art exhibitions like Izihirwe Arts exhibitions, Inspire Me, among others.

The painter takes about three days to two weeks to finish a single painting. He looks up to Epa Binamungu, a Rwandan painter and sculptor.

Kayimahe’s inspiration is driven by other artists’ work, life, people, culture, nature, colours, and visuals.

When asked the role of artists to society, he says that they express the emotions in a visual way and tell the truth that is hidden.

For him, art assists people to view the world in a different way, and share cultural experiences. Art can be involved in rebuilding society. Of course, there is at least one thing everyone dislikes about their work, and for him, he is displeased that the art world is continually dealing with the misperceptions about the craft.

He doesn’t want the echo of how most people think artists are ‘crazy people who can’t do anything else constructive in their life’, and the false rumours that artists use drugs.

Kayimahe’s goal is to make people happy through his work. As an artist, he learns new skills every day. He looks forward to owning his art gallery and present his solo exhibition to the world. 

"Art to an extent is a reflection of society, human aspirations, culture, and geopolitics, though these factors keep changing with time. Styles in the art world reflect changes in society, and technology,” he says.

He also deals in fashion illustrations where he sketches attires like dresses, shirts and sells them to tailors. Though the support in this area is still low for him, which is why he is focusing more on painting. The main challenges he encounters are high prices for the art materials and a lack of proper communication by Rwandans to understand and resonate with art. He says, some Rwandans wouldn’t spend on art as they believe that it’s for the rich.

All he yearns to do is to make people enjoy his work. He prices his work based on different things, the time spent on it, materials used, and the size. 

He navigates the art world by giving commissions, workshops, and selling designs. In his leisure time, he enjoys playing football.

When he was young, he dreamed of becoming a professional footballer, sometimes, he plays over the weekend with amateur footballers. Kayimahe’s favourite colour while painting is red, he says, this is because red represents strength, power, love, and energy.