I found refuge in art, says painter Irumva

EVERYBODY HAS A PLACE REFUGE, or something that makes them feel safe and at peace. Raised by a single mother, Isaac Irumva, 23, a Rwandan contemporary artist, found solace in painting at a very young age, and has since found it to be daily therapy. “I grew up without a father, I remember when I was still young I never made friends with a kids that had a father. So from then, I started loving drawing because that was the only moment I understood and digested the fact that I don’t have a father, it quickly became therapy without knowing it,” Irumva says. Not only did art become his world, Irumva realised that being fatherless is not the only reason that makes him paint, but also when he needs to think “Through painting that is where I feel free, I try to understand what I can’t understand, when I need to think about life, that is the only place I pause and start thinking,” he says. His artworks are characterised by the fundamental sense of painting, sculpture, literature and other forms of art that are often considered to be the repository of a society’s collective memories. He defines his art as 21st century contemporary, influenced by global culture and technological advancement. His art is a dynamic combination of his perspectives and societal collectives; such as cultural dialogues, identities, characters and memories. Irumva while painting, seeks to project reality and inspires to show the everyday life. “I am inspired by reality, that is my way to communicate and connect with different people, through art it is my way to show the perspective of life, I am touched by people’s way of thinking the way they live so for me I do art to bring out all that,” he shared. The self-taught artist started painting and drawing as a profession in 2015, and has since participated in different art exhibitions. “I have so far participated in like 14 exhibitions and festivals combined but from those, I have hosted two solo exhibitions that I have made so far,” says Irumva. His first solo exhibition was in 2020 named ‘Female Artistic Maturity’ and another one that happened in 2021 dubbed ‘Marriage and Humor’, currently, he’s attending a collective art exhibition in Serbia, virtually. Throughout his journey, Irumva has faced challenges like any other budding artist but that didn’t discourage him. “Every artist faces challenges, but I would say the challenging one I faced is that I didn’t know how to draw realistic portraits, though I am self-taught I still don’t touch on the realism part, so to fit in with other talented painters was a big issue but it never put me down”.

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I found refuge in art, says painter Irumva