PAX RWANDA EXHIBIT
The Augusta Art Guild is honored to host and sponsor
Pax Rwanda: Embroideries of the Women of Savane Kabuye, at Echo Hall, Augusta, KY in November, 2024!
This is a traveling exhibit that has been shown across the US including the Museum of African Art of the SMA Fathers in NJ and The Textile Museum in Washington, DC.
The exquisite embroideries of Savane Rutongo-Kibuye are created by a group of self-taught Rwandan women living in the aftermath of the 1994 Genocide. They work as a collective to produce museum-quality textile art that beautifully render images of Rwandan culture.
The artisans came from both sides of the conflict, yet they put the events of the past behind them to work together in the hope that their children would have a better future.
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The Story
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The PAX RWANDA project was started by Christiane Rwagatare, a native Rwandan who studied European embroidery during her college education in Romania.
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Upon returning to Rwanda in 1994 after the Genocide, Christiane met a group of women in the village of Rutongo who were trying to earn a living embroidering table linens. Recognizing their skill, Christiane conceived the idea of a workshop to create full-scale, uniquely embroidered wall hangings of exquisite quality and value.
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Approximately 100 women were immediately interested in the project but Christiane was able to hire only 15 of the most talented.
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Christiane and the women of Savane Rutongo-Kabuye have won awards in Rwanda, but only recently have they received attention internationally.​​
Juliana Meehan, this exhibit’s curator, first discovered the Rutongo embroideries at Christiane’s shop in the capital city of Kigali while visiting Rwanda as a tourist in 2010. Finding them extraordinary, she promptly bought several of them and later met the talented women trained by Rwagatare.
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Since returning to the States, Juliana’s goal has been to bring these works to the attention of the American public. She sustains the workshop by regularly purchasing embroideries at prices set by the workshop and exhibiting them, telling the story of the remarkable women who created them.
The works have been shown in museums and galleries in New York, New Jersey, Ohio, and Washington, DC.
To find out more, please visit https://rutongoembroideries.com