Artist bio

I, Jessica ZABIBU SEFU, am a native of Democratic Republic of Congo, Bukavu, and I currently reside in Kigali, Rwanda. I am a christian passionate paint Artist and illustrator. I am 27 years old and single. I teach Visual Art in an International School located in the City of Kigali. I also do my personal business of selling my Paintings to people who order them from me. I started doing Art as a self taught artist. In my younger age I was very interested in art but didn't get an opportunity to develop more in that due to my society thought and ways of seeing human being's life and carrier. There's a belief in my society that being an Artist is worthless and can't guarantee your future.Despite all discouragement from the society in 2018 i remember when I accepted Jesus as my sevior and started serving God.One verse encouraged me and that's Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". After reading this verse ,I realized that God is the one who started with Art,the creation. I was touched and so amazed by this verse that I decided to follow my call from art.So, in the same year I approached an Artist called Yousuf who taught me basic art theories in drawing. In 2019 and later on he taught me how to use acrylic paints. After some months he connected me to another Artist called Patient Maestro, still in the City of Kigali. Patient Maestro taught me how to use oil paint. After learning the basic of oil painting, in 2020 I started doing my own researches to learn more and get inspired by world artists. After that, I got an opportunity in July 2020 to teach Visual Art in a primary and secondary International School in Kigali City and that's where I am till now. I do both working in that school and working on my personal business which is out of the School. For me Art is not just for making money,Art is my way of communicating with my surroundings,expressing my inner feelings, it's a huge gift from God .I know my path is guided by God that's why I won't give up on what the spirit of God convince me to do and that's trusting God, serve him and develop my art talent,work on my talent and multiply it like the servant who was given 5 talents by the master in Mathiew 25:14-30.I use my talent for good purposes,the talent given by my Master the Almighty God whom I serve.

Title

The shield of faith

Medium/Genre

Painting

Artist Statement

The picture reveals a person praying under a mixture of dark and lighted skies. The dark and grey skies represent attacks from the devil. The lighted skies represent the divine strenght, the strenght of God. There's a battle between spirits.
The person in the middle is a christian, praying and demonstrating her faith in God. The dark hands are demons attacking the christian lady. The fire and the light coming from the chirstian is shows the power of God destroying the demons who are trying to attack the christian lady.
The presence of dark around the woman represents the dark situation in which she was. So, the demons were trying to push her even deeper. Through her faith in God and her prayer, the light and fire appeared to destroy the work of demons.
This image also shows how the lady is very calm because she believes in the power of God in her life. She prays without fear and doubt because she knows that she's under the protection of the Almighty.
The picture encourages us to believe in God knowing that he will always defend us agaisnt all attacks from the devil.

How it fits into contest

The image was inspired from the book of Ephesians. It shows how the christian is not involved in a physical battle but a spiritual one because demons can't be seen with physical eyes but spiritual eyes. That's why this woman has taken the shield of faith in God asking his help in her dark moments. And because she believes in God, she is calm and trust him to fully protect her.
Everyday we face difficult moments in our lives, but God promised us that even in the valley of death he will be with us. So we have to take with us the shield of faith and believe firmly that what God has promised, he will accomplish it.

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