Sometimes situations shape people to be who they are. For Yvan Sagamba, 21, his passion for drawing instigated from boredom. He recalls being a quiet child and spending most of his time alone, he sought activities to keep him occupied to curtail the boredom. What acted as a dullness killer turned into passion, with time. He is now a skilled painter, illustrator, and 2D animator. After ordinary level in 2016, he joined Ecole d’arts de Nyundo where he studied graphic arts at advanced level and graduated in 2018. Although he didn’t join university right away, he got training of about one year in 2D cut out animation at Africa Digital Media Academy- ADMA. For Sagamba, art is an obsession, and it took the place of a special friend. He uses art to express his perceptions of anything. To him, art is his identity in many ways. He is so intrigued by the beauty of the whole environment, for instance, people and nature, that his drawings and paintings rotate around such creations. Sagamba’s talent wouldn’t be accomplished without his mother’s support because he notes that she gave him a go-ahead and provided him with all the support he needed, a thing he says surprised him because some people view art as a profession that isn’t serious. The painter is able to portray life and meaning in his portraits when he gets lost in the moment without distractions. To him, every picture sends a message and those that are eager and patient can interpret it. Although he relishes various kinds of art and uses different art mediums, he loves doing quick sketches using a ballpoint pen and that’s what he is mostly known for. The reason why he fancies it is that such portraits are fast and easy for him to create. “I just love to sketch more than anything else in art. And I use the cross-hatching technique where I shade with intersecting sets of parallel lines. This makes the sketches guise very loose. I just love the lines that flow on the paper,” he says. “Regarding society’s knowledge about art, I think that’s being solved day-by-day. People are understanding art more and more,” he adds. To his dismay, the creative and art industry hasn’t grown yet, and he calls upon the stakeholders and the government to invest more in it just as they do with different kinds of art, such as music. He notes that Rwanda has many talented creatives who are obscured due to lack of finances. “If such young talents are discovered to gain fame locally and internationally, Rwanda as a country will also benefit,” he says.
