Meet Umutima's Manager and President of Nyamirambo Women's Center:

In the summer of 2017, a select group of Umutima seamstresses welcomed NWC intern and photographer Meade Inglis into their stories and even into their homes. These photo-essays are visual and written vignettes of the narratives they shared.
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Meet our Artisans

In her seat beside the Center’s doorway that opens onto the street, Eugenie bends over her sewing machine, hammering stitches into a pillow case seam. 
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Eugenie

In the Center’s chattering white-walled production studio or in her muted green-walled room in a compound down the street, Goreth sews. Her rhythm is defined by this work

Goreth

A kitenge baby blanket was the very first product produced and sold by Umutima Cooperative in 2013.  Francine was the seamstress in charge...
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Francine

Home wasn’t her birthplace, and her birthplace wasn’t home. For Joyce, refugee papers were a defining reality of her childhood in Burundi until she came ...
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Joyce

 

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Photographer's Note

This project's existence is a product of and for these women, who showed me gracious welcomes into their stories, their homes, and their families. My gratitude for what they shared with me is deep and abiding.
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I couldn't have worked with them without the enormous help of NWC president Marie Aimee Umugeni, who offered her daily support for the project; NWC vice president Mary Nyangoma, who translated each and every interview; and Monica Tabet-Gugolz, who influentially mentored me as I entered into my time at the Center. I'm deeply grateful for the space they gave me to follow my artistic vision while becoming a part of the Center for a couple of months.

I'm also indebted to my advisors Samuel Shearer, who taught me the anthropological approach of listening to and retelling stories with care, and Bill Bamberger, who guided my photographic process of telling stories with beauty.

​This work was made possible through funding from DukeEngage.