“Sweet Like Honey”: Twa Photographers Reframing the Past, Present and Future in a Remote Rwandan Marginalised Community

Nyabageni, a small village in north-west Rwanda, is home to a remote rural community of historically marginalised people, formerly known as Twa. Today the village is made up of both those who grew up in the forest and those born in the new settlement into a very different Rwanda. This article examines the artistic work of 12 members of the community who took part in a participatory photography workshop in May 2022. It discusses what the Nyabageni artists’ striking images tell us about conceptions of the past, present and future, and how their self-narratives contest and reframe ongoing prejudice. Close readings of individual photographs show how they: re-animate the past; place members of the community in roles they have previously been excluded from; mobilise visual imagery to activate social change; and stress reparative internal perspectives on a close-knit community. Focusing on the aesthetic and strategic choices made by the photographers, we discuss the complexity and sophistication of their vision, which expands existing literature on Twa identities in the Great Lakes. We also reflect on the role of photography in foregrounding the complex memories, dreams and aspirations of marginalised indigenous people.