{{Multiple issues| {{More citations needed|date=March 2022}} {{Unreliable sources|date=December 2025}} {{Expand French|topic=cult|date=January 2016}} }} {{short description|Rwandan art form using cow dung}} [[File:Fresque Imigongo-Festival international de géographie 2011 (2).jpg|thumb|''Imigongo'' art on display at the International Geography Festival in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France]] '''Imigongo''' ({{IPA|kin|i.mí.ɡôː.ŋɡo|lang}}) is an art form popular in Rwanda traditionally made by women using cow dung. Often in the colors black, white and red, popular themes include spiral and geometric designs that are painted on walls, pottery, and canvas.
The images are produced using a mixture of cow dung and ash, which kills bacteria and removes odour, that gets molded on a flat surface in geometric patterns. It is left to harden and then gets decorated using colors made from organic material.<ref>{{Cite web|title=How Traditional Imigongo Cow Dung Art From Rwanda Is Made|url=https://www.afar.com/magazine/from-the-ashes-rwandas-traditional-imigongo-art-is-on-the-rise/amp|access-date=2021-06-02|website=www.afar.com|date=9 July 2019|archive-date=2021-01-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210121030213/https://www.afar.com/magazine/from-the-ashes-rwandas-traditional-imigongo-art-is-on-the-rise/amp|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2025-12-14 |title=Dung Art Helps Genocide Victims Recover |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/imigongo-cow-dung-art-rwandan-widows-recover-genocide |access-date=2025-12-14 |website=Culture |language=en}}</ref> The traditional colours are black, white, red, grey and beige-yellow but some contemporary artworks use other available colors.
The imigongo images were originally found in Kibungo inside the walls of huts as "magical" decorations during the 18th century{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}.<!-- Found a search result in google with a description nearly matching this. Upon clicking on the link, I was redirected to a fake antivirus website. -->
There is also a legend that imigongo was invented as an interior decoration by Prince Kakira of Gisaka Kingdom in Nyarubuye in the 1800s.<ref>{{Cite web|title=about the Imigongo|url=https://imigongoanywhere.com/|access-date=2022-09-12|website=Imigongo anywhere}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=December 2025|reason=Japanese company which sells imigongo, presumably imitations.}}
During the 1994 Genocide (The Rwandan Genocide & The Nyarubuye massacre), the skills involved almost disappeared. However, a women's cooperative on the road to Rusumo in the Eastern Province near Kirehe has rescued and revived this uniquely Rwandan art form. Traditionally geometric designs are produced but as the women artists have grown in confidence they have begun to experiment with more modern, innovative images that convey the spirit of the Rwandan landscape, its flora and fauna and its people.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Imigongo}} *"[https://jpughinrwanda.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-about-imigongo.html More about Imigongo]", ''John Pugh in Rwanda''. *"[https://www.afar.com/magazine/from-the-ashes-rwandas-traditional-imigongo-art-is-on-the-rise From the Ashes: Rwanda’s Traditional Imigongo Art Is on the Rise]"
Category:Culture of Rwanda Category:African art Category:Feces Category:Cattle products