Manzi Jackson: Traditional and Digital Artist from Rwanda

Manzi Jackson is a self-taught artist based in Kigale, Rwanda.  Manzi experiments with a variation of techniques from pencil, charcoal, pastel and digital paintings. He mainly focuses on figurative and portraiture art. He is best known for realistic portraits of ordinary and occasionally influential figures of our time.

​Lately, however, he is exploring surrealism art, and has managed to produce a series of paintings, which were showcased publicly in his solo exhibition dubbed, “Transfigured Morphous”, that ran from late 2016 to early 2017. His recent works have got elements of Fantastic Realism & Biomechanical Surrealism that portray magical or unreal elements as a natural part, in otherwise realistic or mundane environment.

Manzi’s subject matter is consistent. He is influenced by a multitude of sources, and his subjects don’t have a singular emotion, but rather an equanimity, calm, serene and at ease. He is inspired by a variety of Artists from the past and present, but most particularly great painters like; Leonardo Da Vinci, Salvador Dali, Hans Ruedi Giger, Jonathan Yeo, who have shown what the possibilities are.