CURRENT SUPPORTS: 

‘RUANDA-URUNDI: THE NEXT GEN’ by ALINE AKUNDWANAYO 

When creating RUANDA - URUNDI: THE NEXT GEN, the following question was posed,
“How do I document, archive, mark my spot in the world, connect to my ancestry through art, and do so with the only access I have being my phone?”

This exhibit showcases storytelling, poetry and visual arts and the importance of documenting yourself and learning your culture to a point where you have freedom to challenge and reimagine traditional aspects of it. There are works in the form of videos of Burundian life, digital collages of our diaspora using layered archived images and audios of poetry being read in Kirundi.



This work is on display to promote thoughts of what it means to belong, to learn your culture and how to preserve yourself among all the world when you come from a country as small as ours. A country whose history is not only hard to find but the majority is locked away in colonial institutions inaccessible to us who’s families they ultimately belong to.



While imploring the audience to think outside the boundaries of what it means to be the owner of our own stories and images, it dares you to explore how creating art can be accessible to people through apps and our phones to capture oneself and document one's life.



The hope is this show can inspire people to learn more of their own culture and find ways to explore their traditions. In the end and from the beginning we are the writers of our history if only we can pick up a pen, take a picture and share it with the world.