Rwanda: Twenty Years Marked in New London Photography Exhibition

Rwanda photographs

After the genocide in Rwanda, twenty years ago, that led to the deaths of up to a million people, Rwanda in Photographs: Death Then, Life Now brings work by Rwandan photographers to international audiences for the first time. Intimate images of everyday life in the Great Lakes communicate the complexities of survival after mass violence.

The photographs are the fruits of a workshop led by award-winning international photographers Andrew Esiebo (Nigeria) and Brendan Bannon (US and Kenya) in which photographers from Rwanda questioned the ways in which their country is portrayed internationally.

Too often the country is reduced to images of violence and death, as seen through the eyes of outsiders. For this exhibition, Rwandans have challenged this gaze and now show us their country through their own eyes.

The resulting images reveal a nation in the midst of profound change. In capital city Kigali the economy is strengthening, new buildings are springing up and a fashionable elite is taking root. In more rural areas the scars of genocide are still visibly present in ongoing neighbourly tensions and changing but enduring poverty.

This exhibition marks a step change in the global perception of a country. Photographs by Rwandan artists are yet to be circulated widely among international networks. Now, two decades after the events that brought this small East-African country onto the front pages of our newspapers, we are redressing this. By listening to Rwandan narratives and viewing Rwanda through Rwandan images we come a step closer to understanding the scale and scope of the country’s journey.
 
The photographs are the fruits of a workshop led by award-winning international photographers Andrew Esiebo (Nigeria) and Brendon Brannon (US and Kenya) in which photographers from Rwanda questioned the ways in which their country is portrayed internationally. This exhibition marks a step change in the global perception of a country. Photographs by Rwandan artists are yet to be circulated widely among international networks. Now, two decades after the events that brought this small East-African country onto the front pages of our newspapers, we are redressing this. By listening to Rwandan narratives and viewing Rwanda through Rwandan images we come closer to understanding the scale and scope of the country’s journey.

Events Programme to accompany
Rwanda in Photographs: Death Then, Life Now
 
Friday 21 March – Wednesday 30 April 2014
Inigo Rooms, Somerset House East Wing, Strand WC2R 2LS
 

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