Jean Baptist Mugunga

“I use my art to change the world, make people understand, and teach others to make our world better.”

- Jean Baptist Mugunga

Jean Baptist Mugunga is a visual artist from Rwanda working with watercolor painting, pencil, and pen. The 22-year-old has had a creative inclination since he was young: “I started by being a craftsman, and my friends and I used to make different things that we used to play with because our parents had no money to buy us toys, so we also looked for solutions.”

When he was in secondary school Mugunga heard about the Ivuka Art Center that taught young people how to draw. “The center had a program called Intango Art Kids. At the time it was difficult to find equipment, our parents didn’t have money so [the center] had to buy it for us. The owner had a heart of love and he did it so that we could achieve our dreams.”

Mugunga attended the program every Saturday and, over the years, continued to sharpen his knowledge.

For Mugunga, art is a way to make the world a better place. He explained: “I use my art to change the world, make people understand, and teach others to make our world better.”

However, while art is a powerful tool for change, being creative is not without its challenges and Mugunga said it is often costly to buy materials, in addition to it being difficult to source the materials in the first place. He also explained that “there is a large number of people who are an obstacle because they do not support artists in what they do and they do not know or understand the value of what we do.”

When it comes to civic space, Rwanda’s is repressed, but fortunately, he said: “I am able to work freely and without problems because (in Rwanda) you are safe and secure in what you do, because Rwanda follows the law and you can give opinions.” The multi-talented artist adds that the Rwandan government can better support artists like him by “raising awareness about and increasing education related to art. It can also help artists get cheaper tools and continue to promote the country as it does because that's when we see many tourists and we can tell tourists about art.”

For his Emerging Creatives Program piece, Mugunga focused on education.

“In Rwanda, Africa, and the whole world there is a problem of children being denied the right to study and finding themselves employed in low-paying jobs. They (also) miss the opportunity to go to school because there is a large number of people who do not know that reading and writing are important,” explained the artist.

Mugunga’s piece, titled: ‘The first basic education’, is watercolor on paper and mixed media. “Children need to go to school to learn writing and reading, and parents must take time to talk to their children and teach them,” he said. “Education is the key to unlocking the golden door of freedom. Education is the movement from darkness to light. Never stop learning because life never stops teaching, and this artwork shows that education is important.”

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