In Memory of Harambe
This embroidery is being donated to the Cincinnati Zoo in memory of the young gorilla, Harambe, who was tragically killed in May.
Rest in peace, Harambe.
Pax Rwanda Art Exhibit, Port Authority Bus Terminal
Juliana Meehan sits down with Natalie Pasquarella to discuss the Pax Rwanda art exhibit, an exhibit of original embroideries created by women in Rwanda who survived Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. The exhibit will take place at the Port Authority Bus Terminal.
PAX RWANDA: Exhibition of Fine Art Embroideries at Port Authority Bus Terminal, 41st Street and 9th Avenue, NYC, November 1-30
New York, NY, November 2015 – “Pax Rwanda: Embroideries of the Women of Savane Rutongo-Kabuye,” an exhibit of original embroideries created by Rwandan artists, is currently on view 24/7 in the Port Authority Bus Terminal concourse near the 9th Avenue entrance.
The exhibit has toured galleries and museums since 2011: at Mark Miller Gallery on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in September 2015; in New Jersey at the African Art Museum of the SMA Fathers in Tenafly, the Ocean County Artists Guild in Island City, the Puffin Foundation in Teaneck, and the Cottage Gallery in Ridgewood. It has also been featured at the Textile Museum in Washington, DC, and the Norwood Artspace in Columbus, Ohio.
The embroideries depict Rwandan culture, flora, and fauna and are designed by women who are survivors from both sides of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsis.
Their technique of threading three different colors onto one needle is unique to this workshop and was pioneered by its creator and artistic director, Christiane Rwagatare. With it they produce subtle blends of colors that bring their compositions to life, fashioning with needle and thread what the painter does with brush and paint. Each piece requires at least three months of meticulous effort.
The collection is curated by Juliana Meehan, a New Jersey educator, who discovered the embroideries in a small shop in the Rwandan capital of Kigali in 2010.