Sculptor Medard Bizimana recently had a solo exhibition entitled Making Stones Talk at the Rwanda Art Museum.
Sculptor Medard Bizimana recently had a solo exhibition entitled Making Stones Talk at the Rwanda Art Museum.
Curated by Vivaldi Ngenzi and Hija Gubic, the exhibition put together 28 pieces’ wood and stone sculptures.
Typical about his current exhibition are figures of a woman. It speaks to an African setting and society, which is dominated by women, and mothers at its core. For example, the 28× 20×7cm Granite piece entitled Mother’s Chests shows a mother holding a toddler to her chest a behaviour displayed as mothers breastfeed or as they soothe a child to sleep.
The 39×37×17cm piece entitled Consolation depicts a baby on its mother’s laps, as does Mother’s Peace.
“I believe mothers ought to be valued, especially for the special position they hold fin our lives,” explains Bizimana. Bizimana, 54, is not new in sculpting; he has been doing it for 30 years now.
His interest in sculpting can be traced to 1987, when he was pursuing art studies. “We used to have a gallery at school, where they could be displayed and bought,” he recalls. “The money I earned from those sculptures, in turn, facilitated my tuition, which relived my parents from spending on that.”
But his first commissioned work was of a wooden bird by a pastor in 1988. He never looked back. Out of the 120 artworks at Rwanda Art Museum’s official display, five are by Bizimana.
From 1994 he quit teaching, and embarked on a journey of sculpting, “I wanted to concentrate onto the profession, which required more time,” he recalls.
In 2004, he travelled to China for a symposium and did a sculpture in bronze. He went back and did a four-foot long bronze sculpture.
Most of these were reflective of African customs. “We were given themes, but advised to make artworks that are inspired by our home cultures, which quite motivated my creativity,” he explains.
Bizimana’s sculptures have been exhibited around the world from Gabon and Nepal to Tanzania, Spain and China.
Bizimana can also sculpt in metal, besides recycling and sandwich mediums too. Sculpting requires space since the process produces a lot of stone and wood dust, which mess up places. With the use of mostly motor-powered machines, these also produce a lot of noise, which most neighbourhoods wouldn’t embrace.
The chisels and electric hand-powered carving machines he uses are from Europe, especially for their quality.
Most of his clients are tourists. This bothers him as he feels the art is not embraced locally.
“We are trying to find ways to see to it that workshops are held, where artists will be facilitated into adopting the art form since we have recently witnessed sculptures being set up in various parts of the country too,” he remarks.