FLASH KIGALI PHOTOGRAPHERS in collaboration with over 11 photographers across the globe are showcasing their best photos at the ongoing exhibition dubbed "Streets Stories," happening at the French Cultural Center of Rwanda (Institut Français du Rwanda_Centre Culturel Francophone du Rwanda).
Organised by Christel Arras, a French self-taught photographer, in collaboration with Flash Kigali photographers, City of Kigali and the French Cultural Center of Rwanda the exhibition was slated to run for two weeks and will close its doors on September 23.
Flash Kigali was established in 2020, by a French photographer Christel Arras. Its affliate Flash Kigali photographers is a collective of non-professional photographers with permanent or occasional members who want to share their passion and knowledge about photography and also to discover the City of Kigali and its inhabitants.
According to Arras, among the objectives of the exhibition is to explore different parts of the City of Kigali, to meet people in neighborhoods, and also to learn their culture.
"The main objective of our exhibition is to share a positive vision of the everyday life of the city of Kigali but also African cities as well through photography,’’ She told The New Times.
She added that the inhabitants will get to see their lively streets in a new perspective and also after taking some pictures, they exhibit them in the neighborhoods to which they were taken and also give portraits to people they’ve shot while doing their daily activities.
Christel Arras, founder of Flash Kigali Photographers.
"There are many streets which are lovely and interesting to explore but no one has ever decided to take some pictures of them. We want to spread a positive message to the world and show different cities of Africa, including Kigali City in their original way and their lovely neighborhoods,’’she noted.
According to Arras, the concept originated from Ivory Coast in 2014 with the creation of ‘Flash Abidjan’ where the aim was to share a positive vision of the everyday life of cities in Africa. Later on, she founded Flash Kigali.
So far, Flash Kigali photographers has done 13 events including six photo walks and seven exhibitions where they work with 11 non-permanent photographers across the world. The street stories photo exhibition at the French Institute is a retrospective of their previous works including the dubbed ‘Nyami Rainbow’ in January 2020, ‘Kim’Isoko’ in February 2020, ‘Women’ in March 2020,’Garden of Eden’ in June 2020 and others.
How Flash Kigali photographers’ works
Arras further explained that regularly, the participants go for a photo walk in different neighborhoods, where they discover different places and get to meet local people, and take photos of the environment within their different daily activities. After the walk, the members select between 12 and 16 photos that will be exhibited, hanged on a string in a popular place of the neighborhood.
"It is a way of keeping memories, for example the place we went for a photo walk in Nyarutarama, people were living in high risk zones but they were relocated after only two weeks since we visited there, we hope in a few coming years the pictures will remind people what and how the place used to look like,’’ she explained.
She also added that Flash Kigali photographers have members across the world including photographers from countries like Kenya, France, Italy, Netherlands, and Poland.
Flash Kigali is willing to train these young photographers, to support them and also to help them build connections but more importantly to help them to spread a positive message among their local city's inhabitants.
Currently the Flash Kigali is set to release their annual book which is basically composed of some of the selected photos of the year which is affordable for everyone who wants the edited photos book.