KAKIRA COOPERATIVE
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At the Kakira-Art Imigongo cooperative, one of the oldest, widows of the genocide sit on mats on the floor and adapt old paintings and designs into new decorative works, called imigongo. They use natural products such as cow dung that forms the structure of the mural. The natural soil provides the red color, the kaolin the white, the clay the ochre..
As for the shiny black, it is made from banana peelings ashes, "mixed with aloe juice and the fruit of the Solanum aculeastrum plant". At the source of imigongo, there is the art of mixing the ashes of raw materials with cow dung and medicinal plants. This is the opposite of industrial production. At the beginning, the Kakira association produced only twenty panels per month, but the capacity increased with the increase in demand.
But who was Kakira? This man who lived in the 19th century was the son of the king of Gisaka in the province of Kibungo. He was also a precursor of interior decorators, for it was he who invented the art of embellishing Rwandan houses, thanks to the particular strength of motifs "that escape in an infinite repetition from the limits that their support thinks they can impose".
Imigongo are now widespread and other cooperatives produce them, but if you pass through Kibungo, don't miss to visit them!
