Imigani 006

Placide Niyigena “Plart '' (11 June 1999 - 14 January 2020) was a young Rwandan artist. Plart’s artwork is based on a Humanoid portrait with elements from animals and nature. Plart was an Animist who believed that not only humans and animals have a spiritual essence that influence the galaxy, but also objects, plants, rivers and weather systems.

This artwork is part of the series Imigani which is a Kinyarwanda word. Imigani can either mean a fairytale story (Imigani miremire) or a proverb/metaphor (Imigani migufi). Oral storytelling plays a big part in Rwandan history, spiritual messages were shared through proverbs and are now known as “fairytales”. The Imigani artworks are in small and medium frames. They portray a hybrid creature between animals and humans.