IN CELEBRATION of International women’s day, the Francophone Cultural Center in Rwanda hosted Teta Diana for a concert and offered a space for women in visual arts to do an exhibition for a week. Jemima Kakizi who headed the panel discussion of women doing visual art with the theme ‘la place des femmes dans l’art Visuel au Rwanda’ (the place of females in visual arts in Rwanda) explained, “Regarding art, women have never been treated equally as their male counterparts and so today they remain underrepresented in museums and galleries. Due to such a case, though it took 35 years for Rwandan women to access formal art education, they have been involved in art making throughout history.” The artist declared challenges they face as female artists and said that it’s not a Rwandan challenge, instead a global thing, and better future changes are expected for females in art. The panel also included Crista Uwase, Ange Faith Ngereje and Angella Ilibagiza. Today, women’s representation in the Rwanda Art Museum is at 8 per cent. It is proving that there are some efforts being made to ensure that contemporary art is growing in Rwanda. After the discussion they officially launched a one week exhibition at the Francophone Cultural Center in Rwanda. Clotilde Lecoeur, the communication officer and event organizer in this cultural center based in Rwanda shared her insights on International Women’s day. Clotilde who came to Rwanda in December, 2021 came with a purpose of putting Rwandan Female artists to the spotlight without any gender related inequality. Speaking to The New Times, Clotilde said, “I invited Teta Diana and talked to Jemima Kakizi with her fellow visual artists, they are all incredible women and we wanted to celebrate women’s achievement on the women’s special day. This won’t stop with that day, we look forward to working with other talents, both male and female.” Teta Diana headlined an amazing concert and entertained the audience. She told this publication that she knew about the concert when she reached Kigali, when the Institut Français suggested celebrating women’s day with them. She said, “I am so glad that more often the International Women’s Day finds me in Kigali. Entertaining the young and old, locals and foreigners means a lot to my limitless music career.”
