During the 16 days of activism on GBV, two Rwandan female artists, Jemima Kakizi and Angel Ilibagiza, teamed up to start a social media campaign on creating awareness about GBV using visual art.
It is an idea that dates back when Ilibagiza created an art piece dubbed 'Tubavuge Amazina', a collage made using pieces of paper stacked on a canvas that features 80 plus names of femicide victims from different years.
Speaking to The New Times, Iliza said, when I began researching and collecting the victims' names, I felt like an assignment that would end until I learned of Diane's death, and it became more personal.
Diane Ingabire was Iliza'z high school classmate and a femicide victim who features on 'Tubavuge Amazina' art piece, and is one of the reasons why Iliza is on a mission to use art in tackling GBV.
"I never thought the art piece would bear the name of someone I knew. Her name has been the highlight of the art piece. I have documented 50 names of victims murdered this year so far," she said.
'Tubavuge Amazina' among other art pieces is what made Iliza team up with fellow visual artists, including Kakizi, to use the 16 days of activism on GBV in creating awareness on gender-based violence through different social media platforms like Twitter, with the use of visual art.
The campaign's goal, according to Iliza who is the brains behind it, is raising awareness about the prevalence of femicide, something she believes that local media failed to do.
The campaign runs on Kakizi's social media platforms where every day during the 16 days of activism on GBV, a piece of art and sermons on GBV are posted on Twitter.
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"Media outlets do not deem it important enough to identify the victims to the public. In some news reports, they do not even bother saying the victim's names yet publish the perpetrator's names. This renders victims invisible and insignificant, and it's why I titled the art piece "Tubavuge Amazina". We ought to say the victims' names. Their names matter," Iliza said.
Another thing, she said, femicide is reported as random and isolated incidents rather than a societal issue related to male violence which is why our campaign came to life to address such issues.
"This insufficient news coverage underscores the prevalence of femicide. People read or hear about a woman murdered and they move on and the society have also grown indifferent and apathetic to femicide stories. However, I refuse to be immune and used to these stories. I remain shocked by every story. There's a dire need to end femicide".
According to Iliza, previous reports indicate that 50 women and girls were killed in 11 months, and the fact that every woman and girl regardless of class, education, background and religion, can be a victim of femicide is even more shocking and terrifying.
"I use art to honor Diane Ingabire and all other femicide victims, and visibilize them. These women lived. Through my art, I want to highlight the magnitude of femicide, raise public awareness, as well as generate public outrage to collect and take action to end femicide".
"We are thankful to the media for reporting femicide. I rely on news coverage, but the way they report it needs to be revised for better coverage," she added.
