Umwiza

2025 | Mixed Media: Acrylic & Fabric Collage on Canvas, Stretched on Wood Frame

This African artwork honors the generations of women who fought for the right to education. For ages, girls were denied access to learning, and women were excluded from making meaningful contributions through knowledge. Our grandmothers were confined by rigid gender roles—forced into domestic life, burdened with unpaid care work, and overworked until old age. Yet they resisted. They dreamed of something better for their daughters and fought to make it possible. We are their dream fulfilled. This piece pays tribute to their courage and sacrifice, while calling today’s girls and women to carry that legacy forward. To be curious. To read. To question. To seek and grow. The mind is a garden—plant seeds of knowledge. The mind is a canvas—adorn it with wisdom.

See more artwork by Angella Ilibagiza