‘Twenty years after the terrible genocide of the Tutsis, I decided to create this giant painting. As an African artist, I seek to evoke in my own way this large-scale crime which traumatized the entire world, and particularly the African continent. Once again, man becomes a wolf, denying all the values that are the foundations of humanity. Rather than concentrating on the horror of the massacres, I preferred to offer a physical image of the hope of peace returning, represented by the energy of indestructible life capable of regeneration; and all of this under the protective gaze of a great bird announcing the reconciliation of peoples. I completed this work with a quote from the French writer Charles Juliet which seems to be in perfect resonance with my painting: “Whoever wants with all their might to be free has to suffer and fight. But if one day they succeed in breaking down the walls of their prison, and coming into the daylight, they are given access to a certain knowledge and their fear, self-hatred, anxiety and guilt gives way to peace, strength and a faith in life which means that their circle will continue to expand.”’ – Barthélémy Toguo
