A self-taught painter and mixed media expressionist, Emmanuel Nkuranga is co-founder and owner of Inema Arts Center in Kigali, Rwanda. Through Inema, Nkuranga leads the country’s growing creative industry. Born in Mityana, Uganda in 1987, he is the son of Rwandan former exiles. He moved to Rwanda in 1997 and is part of an upcoming promising generation of contemporary Rwandan artists.
Inema Arts Center was founded in 2012 with Nkuranga’s brother and fellow painter, Innocent Nkurunziza. Inema is the largest art center in Rwanda and provides space for ten artists in-residence to explore their creative talent and showcase their work. It is is also home to programmes, projects, and initiatives whose aim is turn creativity into livelihood. Today, Inema provides livelihoods for nearly 100 people and hosts over 7,000 visitors annually.
Nkuranga approaches art in a dynamic and explorative way by engaging in daily painting experiments. This helps with exploring ideas, techniques, and a variety of materials creatively. His form as an artist contributes to the mission of using art to change lives. This goes as far back as 2010 where he started the programme Art with a Mission whose focus is supporting orphans. He provides art supplies and lessons for these children. Additionally, this philanthropic work cultivates artistic talent in youth and pays for their school fees. Today, hundreds of students have worked with Art with a Mission programmes and received financial support for their education.
When Nkuranga started his artistic career in 2009, Rwanda did not consider art a serious economic pursuit. As a result, he used his artistic talent and took bold risks to ignite the contemporary art movement in Rwanda. These risks showed up not only on the canvas, but in envisioning how the power of art could propel Rwanda into the global creative world.
Nkuranga’s work has been shown at the Nike Graphic Studio in Portland, Oregon and at the Charlie Dutton Gallery in the United Kingdom. He has been an artist in residence and guest lecturer in undergraduate and postgraduate courses at Michigan State University, University of Virginia, and Scranton University in the United States. He featured in the documentary The Royal Tour: Rwanda, where he was painting with H.E. President Paul Kagame and journalist Peter Greenbergaired on PBS. He has also exhibited in Germany and Sweden.
