The walls of the staircase leading to Francis Offman’s exhibition Weaving Stories are covered in dried coffee grounds. This dark, tactile material turns the ascent to the exhibition space on the first floor into an immersive olfactory experience.

Coffee is central to Francis Offman’s conceptual approach to painting and symbolizes the two worlds that are intertwined in the artist’s life: Offman grew up in Rwanda and witnessed the genocide of 1994, during which extremists from the Hutu majority killed between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people—primarily Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu. In 1999, Offman emigrated to Italy, where he has lived ever since. Coffee culture is today an integral part of Italian national identity, whereas in Rwanda it only took root during German colonial rule (1897–1916). At that time, coffee was grown solely for export in regions where the destruction of local livelihoods forced people to work on colonial plantations.

Offman began working with coffee grounds when he opened the last packet his mother had brought him from Rwanda. The loss of his homeland, migration and separation, the traumatic experiences of his parents, and the longing for the Rwanda of his childhood resonate in each of his works.