With photography gaining popularity in Rwanda, 22-year-old Jacque Nkinzingabo, together with former street children, are telling the unseen side of life in the country. 

Under Learning for Change, a project initiated by the Kwanda Art Foundation with support from the Goethe Institut, Nkinzingabo got together a group of 12 street children for a photography project.

Aged between nine and 12, and based in Kigali, the children went through photography workshops. Jacque faced many challenges, including children dropping out of the project and returning to the streets, but he prevailed. He was warned that the children would steal his cameras, but this did not happen.

The result of his resilience was Creating Future, an exhibition held from September 8 to 21 at Kigali’s Goethe Institut.

Earlier this year, Jacque ran an exhibition, The Journey, with eight Rwandan photographers, which showcased urban life. Creating Future, which Nkinzingabo created with four children — Narcis Habineza, Kazintwari Khadafi, Foestine and Arsene Manzi — captured time and space, revealing the unusual side of Rwandan life and its people.

More than 70 photographs covered activities like transport, vendors, the life of street children, and people relaxing by the shores of the Lake Kivu in Rubavu district.
Behind the lens, each child captured their view of life in their country.

Jacque said that earnings from photography are still low, and most photographers do it out of a passion for the work, and their desire to show the public the world around them. 

Jacque will show the pictures in Ravensburg, southern Germany, from September 25 to October 14, at an exhibition titled Rwanda Unseen.