As long as I can remember, I have always been intrigued by lands and cultures that are far from my home in America.
Exploring these colorful continents began long before my twenties. As a child, I went many places without never leaving the country. I envisioned walking circles around England’s Stonehenge, climbing trees along with the panda bears in China, and dancing among the tribes in the South American Amazon Rainforest.
My childhood adventures around the world took place within the pages of books and
magazines. Intriguing as these places were, one stood out and captivated me: Africa.
My real travels began in 1999. Throughout Europe I experienced England, France, and Italy as well as in Latin America, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. Each place I visited helped me to grow both personally and also as a photographer. After much anticipation, in the summer of 2006 the opportunity I had been waiting for arose.
I left my home in Virginia to travel to Africa. My first visit, land of the ancient pyramids and the famous Nile River was Egypt. After spending a few weeks traveling around the country I stepped on a plane with my good friend and left Cairo flying south following the Nile and into the country of Ethiopia.
With only the words from books and conversations with Ethiopian friends in America I entered a land notoriously known for famine and poverty. The Ethiopia I found was far different. From the thriving nightlife in Addis, to the ancient religious landmarks in the north, to the colorful wildlife and tribes in the south, the real Ethiopia challenges the traditional western image.
Beautiful Accacia trees give much needed shade to a small village in the South Omo Valley. Photo by Emily Taylor.
Although I was merely a visitor to this land, I felt at home and relaxed. I wanted to capture everything and arguably saw more through the lens of my camera than I did with my naked eyes. Of the many things I saw and experienced within Ethiopia, there was one thing that stood out the most: the people. The Ethiopian people are a diverse group with many different languages and traditions. Although there is much diversity among Ethiopians, I found there was one common characteristic: an immeasurable amount of human spirit. Each person I had the opportunity to spend time with extended to me the utmost respect and the same warm welcome.
Driving north of Addis, my camera rested on the window of the car, capturing this quick but beautiful encounter.
Visiting markets in Ethiopia was my favorite way to capture such color people as this young Banna tribe member.
Education is a highly sought after and cherished resource in the lives of Ethiopian children.
As a photographer, I felt it was my responsibility to capture this unique culture with sincerity and care. I returned to America with many stories and thousands of images to share with my family and friends. After weeks of constantly talking about my trip I felt something more could be done. In the fall of 2006 I began giving multimedia presentations for universities, community
centers, and churches. Since then, my mission to educate Americans about Ethiopia has progressed rapidly and continues daily.
The significance of faith in modern-day Ethiopia is portrayed here, by a priest of the ancient rock-hewn churches in Lalibela
Stemming from both the overwhelming encouragement and support from Americans and Ethiopians alike, coupled with my passion to broaden the minds of the western world, Project Image Ethiopia was born. The media project not only serves as a tool for cultural awareness and education, but also as a celebration of a beautiful country that has been misrepresented for
years. In the coming year I hope to return to Ethiopia where I can continue my work as a photographer and as the project’s team leader.
Two Ethiopian friends share their conversation with me on a street corner near The National Museum in Addis.
Taking a moment away from his herd a young boy standing peacefully for a photograph.
Although I have learned a great deal about Ethiopian culture, I am excited about the opportunity to experience even more so as to be able to assist in educating and enlightening Americans. My goal for Project Image Ethiopia is to provide information on both the people and the land of Ethiopia through print and broadcast media.
I traveled and was fortunate enough to be able to experience some of the world’s greatest places through media as a child. Now I would like to return my good fortune and provide the media to take America on a walk across the beautiful East African country of Ethiopia.
Born in 1973, Fikru G/Mariam has been practicing art ever since his parents enrolled him at the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts children’s program at the age of eleven.
In 1986, he takes part in the children’s competition organized by the International Children’s Painting Exhibition in Beijing, wins a reward and what was at the beginning just a hobby became a real passion.
In 1995, he graduates from the School of Fine Arts and decides to dedicate his life to full-time painting. At that time, most of his works were concentrated on religious and traditional african themes.
Fikru in his Paris Studio – 2005
After traveling in the Harrar region and in Northern Ethiopia, Fikru finds new sources of inspiration, especially in Harari women. According to him, those women are “highly decorative in the way they dress and do their craft” (The Reporter, 03/10/1999). The Dream – 120×120 cm – Oil on canvas – 2004. Upcoming shows – 2007: solo exhibition National Museum, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 2007: May 1-30: solo exhibition, Galerie François 1er, Aubigny sur Nère (18700), France. Opening on May 5th at 5pm. 2008: summer: Galerie Alternance Guy Lignier, Hardelot, France.
Blue dream 100×81 cm Oil on canvas 2004. Painting by Fikru G/Mariam (Addis Ababa & Paris).
Over time, his style has diversified: some depict stylized, elongated African masks, richly decorated.
Between 1995 and 2003, he has exhibited 13 times in Addis Abeba, the last one was at the National Museum of Addis Abeba in February 2003. Fikru also showed his works abroad. In 1999, he exhibited for one month in Dublin (Ireland) and between 2002 and 2005 he exhibited 9 times in Paris and in different parts of France. In 2003, he participated in a group exhibition in Maryland (USA) and in November 2004 he will exhibit in Washington DC. In 2005, he exhibited at the Salon d’Automne in Paris.
Now, Fikru shares his time between Addis Abeba and Paris. His works are displayed in many private collections in Ethiopia, France, Ireland, Spain, Germany, England, United States, Canada, Cap Verde, South Africa, Italy, and the Netherlands. Leran More about Fikru .
Related Stories:
London – In pictures: Ethiopia’s forgotten archive (BBC)
An exhibition of previously unseen photographs from Ethiopia between 1963 and 1982 is opening in London as the country marks its millennium celebrations. They were taken by Shemelis Desta who was the official court photographer for Emperor Haile Selassie. See More Photos, Click Here
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Above:Girls Gotta Run Foundation exhibition at Phoenix
Gallery in New York (Photo by Susan Liebold).
Tadias Magazine
Updated: July 13th, 2009
Publisher’s Note
New York (Tadias) – Dr. Patricia E. Ortman, a retired Women’s Studies Professor and an artist, is the director of Girls Gotta Run Foundation. The group held an exhibition last week at Phoenix Gallery in New York titled Shoes, Shoes, Shoes. The objective of the show was to raise funds to buy athletic shoes for Ethiopian girls to support their participation in sports and help them continue their formal education.
Although seven of the top-ten earning athletes in Ethiopia are women, the nation’s girls’ enrollment in school is among the lowest in the world. Many girls and their parents have begun to see careers as professional runners as viable options. Many who train in order to stay in school and keep their options open, can, with the help of caring others, overcome many of the obstacles in their way.
The exhibit is on display and art for sale through September 29 and gallery hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 11:30 – 6 p.m.
The following is Pat’s journal.
By Patricia E. Ortman
On Tuesday afternoon, Beth Cartland, Jim and I met at the Gallery to unwrap art and hang the exhibit. Along with Linda Handler, the Gallery Director, we tested and tried and eventually arrived at what we believed to be a lovely configuration of the pieces, all the while being shadowed by our filmmakers Andy and Nick. Beth, Jim and I were still there when everyone else left about 6:30 or so but finally called it a day around 7:15 ourselves, agreeing to meet when the Gallery opened again at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday to finish off all of the assorted odds and ends that inevitably accompany such a venture. So Wednesday found us again at the Gallery until about 2:30 or 3:00, at which time we could finally say “Fini!”
On Thursday evening, we arrived at the Gallery almost half an hour early to find guests, including Westchester Track Club Founder/Coach Mike Barnow and several Ethiopian members of the Club, already there. It was a whirlwind of activity from then until after 8 p.m. when guests were literally shooed out of the building in order to close it.
Other guests in attendance included Adrienne Wald, the WTC Club’s Newletter Editor in Chief, who arrived shortly after Coach Mike with several more Club members and additional friends; New York participating photographers Susan Liebold and Leah Beth Goodman, Leah bringing a crowd of Goodman family and friends; Lauren Mills, a NYC artist newcomer to GGRF; DC artists Jane Pettit, Gail Rebhan, and Joyce Ellen Weinstein.
Runners from Ethiopia were especially excited to speak with Susan about her photos of Ethiopian girls.
Altogether I would judge we had about 50 people come specifically for our exhibit. But it’s hard to say because there were several other openings in the building, two in the same gallery, and some people who had come for those also stopped in to see ours. So, we sold four pieces and continued to expand the universe of people who know about the cause.
“The opening’s success was a tribute to all your hard work. Enjoying it was delightful!” —Participating Artist Jane Pettit
“The opening was fantastic and I’m confident we’ll help raise lots of money to buy running shoes for the girls of Ethiopia.” —Participating Photographer Leah Beth Goodman
Above:By Steve Donnelly. The Sidewalk: acrylic on canvas; 24″ x 30″. Featured Piece.
New York: The Girls Gotta Run Foundation, Inc., raises money to buy athletic shoes for Ethiopian girls to support their participation in sports and help them continue their formal education.
In her December 2005 Washington Post article (“Facing Servitude, Ethiopian Girls Run for a Better Life”), Emily Wax pointed out that Ethiopian girls’ enrollment in school is among the lowest in the world, and women and girls are more likely to die in childbirth, due to early marrige, than reach sixth grade.
Ethiopia also has the highest rate of vaginal fistulas, a tearing of the vagina during childbirth that requires painful reconstructive surgery, often unavailable, in the world; and one of the largest caseloads of AIDS, forcing many girls to quit school to care for sick or widowed relatives.
Today, however, seven of the 10 top-earning athletes in Ethiopia are women.
Many girls and their parents have begun to see careers as professional runners as viable options in a country where girls as young as 12 can be sold as brides by parents desperate for dowry payments.
Many who train in order to stay in school and keep their options open, can, with the help of caring others, overcome many of the obstacles in their way.
Getting athletic shoes, however, is tremendously difficult. Inspired by their spirit and determination, and moved by their plight, a group of artists and committed others came together in early 2006 to form an organization to raise money to buy shoes for the girls; the Girls Gotta Run Foundation was born.
The group has organized an exibition at Phoenix Gallery in New York titled “Shoes, Shoes, Shoes”. The show will open on September 5, 2007.
Above:By Kay Bailey. Run a Mile in Her Shoes: quilt; 18 x 18″, with pictures on it including a linoleum cut printed onto cotton with acrylic paint and two photographs printed on cotton with an ink-jet printer. The quilt was machine pieced and sewn with free-motion stitching. Featured Piece.
Inside the Fistula Project (Tadias, OCT-NOV 2003)
“It is the oldest medical cause in the world. There is currency dug out of pyramids containing images of fistula, yet in the 21st century it is the most neglected cause,” Dr. Catherine Hamlin tells us. While the last American hospital for fistula patients closed its doors in 1895, the first one of its kind opened almost 8 decades later in Ethiopia. Since its inception in 1974, the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital founded by Dr. Reginald and Catherine Hamlin has treated over 25,000 women, the majority of whom have been cured and have returned to their villages to live healthy, normal lives. Inside the Fistula Project
Publisher’s Note:It was the first time since the mid-1960’s that Maitre Afewerk Tekle had traveled to the United States to talk about his award-winning artwork. As the featured speaker for the annual Pioneers Forum organized by the Stanford Ethiopian Student Union, Maitre Afewerk shared his personal journey with diverse audience from Stanford and the larger Bay Area Ethiopian-American community on March 7, 2004. Here is our story from Tadias archive.
Speaking about his life-long dedication to the fine arts, Maitre Afewerk Tekle instills in his audience the importance of using art to inspire people, to uplift nations and to create an optimistic view of life.
“What we do today must reflect today’s life for tomorrow’s generation and pave the way for the future generation,” he asserts with passion and reflection. He teaches us that “art is in every fabric of life.”
Few moments are as electric as when the Most Honorable Maitre Artist World Laureate Afewerk Tekle walks through a crowded auditorium at Stanford University to give an insider’s view of his accomplishments and life adventures. Elegantly clad in the sheer white of the Ethiopian national costume, Maitre Afewerk lets his artistic mind captivate the audience as he takes his red-bordered netela to demonstrate the various ways one can wear it for different public venues, including as a graduation gown. He receives an enthusiastic thunder of applause as he concludes his brief introduction.
Afewerk Tekle at Stanford University on March 7,
2004. (Photo: Tadias Archive)
Afewerk Tekle was born in the town of Ankober in Ethiopia on October 22, 1932. Having grown up in an Ethiopia battling fascist Italian forces, Afewerk was acutely aware of the destruction of war and the need to rebuild his native home. Intent on acquiring skills that would allow him to contribute to Ethiopia’s restoration, the young Afewerk settled on pursuing his studies in mining engineering.
His family and friends, however, had already recognized his inner talent in the arts. Around town he was know for his drawings on walls using stones, and for possessing a curious and ever reflective mind. Despite his natural gravitation to the art world, at the age of 15 Afewerk was chosen to be sent abroad to England to commence his engineering studies.
Maitre Afewerk recalls being summoned by Emperor Haile Selassie to receive last-minute advice prior to his departure.
“To this day I cannot forget his words,” the Maitre says pensively. “The Emperor began by counseling us to study, study, and study.” he told the audience.
“He told us: you must work hard, and when you come back do not tell us what tall buildings you saw in Europe, or what wide streets they have, but make sure you return equipped with the skills and the mindset to rebuild Ethiopia.”
Maitre Afewerk later confides that this sermon rang in his head each time he was tempted to seek the easy life, free from the responsibility of rebuilding his nation and uplifting his people.
As one of the earliest batch of African students admitted to exclusive boarding schools in England, Afewerk faced culture shock and the occasional strife caused by English bullies. Yet he remained steadfast in pursuing his studies. He especially excelled in courses such as mathematics, chemistry and history, but it was not long before his teachers discovered his inner talent for the arts.
With the encouragement of his mentor and his teachers, Afewerk decided to focus on refining his gift and enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. Upon completion of his studies he was accepted as the first African student at the prestigious Faculty of Fine Arts at Slade (University of London). At Slade, Afewerk focused on painting, sculpture and architecture.
Upon returning to Ethiopia, Maitre Afewerk traveled to every province, staying at each location for a period of up to three months, immersing himself in the study of his surroundings and absorbing Ethiopia’s historical and cultural diversity. He reflected on and pushed himself to become an Ethiopian artist with world recognition.
“I had to study Ethiopian culture,” the Maitre states, “because an important ingredient of a world artist is to have in your artwork the flavor of where you were born.”
He passionately adds, “My art will belong to the world but with African flavor.”
Above all, Maitre Afewerk worked diligently in the hopes of using his artwork as a social medium with which to highlight the history, struggles and beauty of his native home. Although he was educated abroad, he fought against what he called “the futile imitation of other artists’ works, Western or otherwise.’’
With the message of rebuilding Ethiopia still ringing in his ears, Maitre Afewerk quickly decided to relinquish the ministerial post assigned to him upon completion of his university studies, and opted instead to devote his full attention to painting and exhibiting his artwork both at home and abroad.
At age 22, Afewerk Tekle held his first significant one-man exhibition at the Municipality Hall in Addis Ababa in 1954. He followed up his success by conducting an extensive study tour of art in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal and Greece, paying particular attention to collections of Ethiopian illustrated manuscripts as well as acquiring skills in stained-glass artwork.
Returning home he was commissioned to create religious art for St. George’s Cathedral. He also worked on some of the first sculptures depicting Ethiopian national heroes. His designs and inspirations were soon printed on stamps and national costumes. Most notably, he conceptualized and designed the elaborate stainedglass window artwork in Africa Hall at the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.
With the income and savings he acquired by selling his artwork Afewerk designed his own 22-room house, studio and gallery, which he nicknamed ‘Villa Alpha’.
By 1964 Maitre Afewerk had held his second successful exhibition, thereafter followed by his first exhibition abroad in Russia, the U.S.A. and Senegal. Touring African nations at a time when Africa was under the yoke of colonialism, Afewerk Tekle used his paintbrush to fight for the dignity and honor of African people.
Focusing on the struggles ensnaring black people, he shared his quest for liberation and equality, naming his artwork with titles such as Backbones of the African Continent, Africa’s Heritage, and African Unity.
“Your brush can be quite stronger than the machine gun,” he says facing his audience. “I wanted to show how you can write Africa through your artwork, what it means to have liberty, to have your fellow humans completely equal.”
The theme of African independence and the interrelationship of African cultures are indelibly etched in Maitre Afewerk’s paintings.
Afewerk Tekle at Stanford University on March 7,
2004. (Photo: Tadias Archive)
Many art critics have tried, time and time again, to label and categorize his work as having either European or African influence, and sometimes even both. However, he tells us that “you should be free and liberated in your thoughts and style. Your art should speak to you in your hidden language.”
Maitre Afewerk notes that 10% of his work is considered religious art while at least 50% echoes Ethiopian influence. But there is room for him to explore and develop his own style that speaks to his inner muse.
Today, Maitre Afewerk’s art is known and celebrated throughout the world, and indeed he has achieved his dream of becoming an Ethiopian artist with world recognition. He has uplifted Ethiopia, and at the same time his art has been infused into the daily life of his community and fellow citizens.
Walking or driving around Addis, it is difficult to miss his current art projects depicting today’s heroes such as world champion runner Haile Gebresellasie. At the bottom corner of the painting there is an Amharic phrase that says it all: Yitchalal! (It’s Possible!).
At the end of his presentation Maitre Afewerk opens a window into his private world as he shares the fact that he always spends time in the private chapel in his home prior to commencing work on a piece of art, and again after it has been completed. To him it is a place of inspiration.
“At the end of the day, my message is quite simple,” he says. “I am not a pessimist, I want people to look at my art and find hope. I want people to feel good about Ethiopia, about Africa, to feel the delicate rays of the sun. And most of all, I want them to think: Yitchalal!
New York – (Tadias) – Walters Art Museum Director Gary Vikan’s fascination with Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian art began in a Washington D.C. basement during the 1960s.
——————————————————————————————– Listen on WNYC:Dr. Gary Vikan, Director of the Walters
Art Museum, talks about the significance of Ethiopian
religious icons and other objects of worship on display
at the Museum of Biblical Art.
——————————————————————————————-
“I do remember going into somebody’s house in Washington [D.C.] and seeing the Virgin [Mary] with these huge, dark eyes,” Vikan said during a recent interview. “And I remember the moment I saw it and where I was standing. The memory is very strong.”
Private collections throughout the world, like those protected beneath a Washington D.C. house, inside rock-hewn Christian monasteries in Ethiopia, or above ground in a New York City SoHo loft, have provided the Walters Art Museum with a majority of its Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian art, Vikan said.
Vikan only began collecting Ethiopian Orthodox Christian art for the Walters in 1993, the same year he curated “African Zion: The Sacred Art of Ethiopia,” an historical exhibition he said served as a “flashpoint” for the current strife occurring in Ethiopia at the time.
“In the context of doing the exhibition, it was not easy. It was a troubled moment historically” in Ethiopia, Vikan said, with Mengistu Haile Mariam’s reign of Red Terror having just ended. The trial that would prosecute members of the communist Derg, mostly in absentia, would soon begin.
“These aspects put people on edge, and they kind of spilled over, not into the exhibition itself, but the different views, it was very interesting,” he said. “The exhibition had facets that most exhibitions don’t have.”
A year later, Vikan, a medieval orthodox art scholar and trained Byzantinist, moved from chief curator to director of the Walters and began collecting Ethiopian Orthodox Christian art in earnest. The Walters now boasts the largest collection of this type of Ethiopian devotional art outside of Ethiopia in the world.
“Certainly the best, from some very interesting private collections,” Vikan said. “I was attracted to it before anyone paid much attention to it.”
When the collection of a sub-Saharan art dealer who passed away was being sold off, Vikan got a call.
“Somebody selling off the collection who knew about me – this would’ve been in 1995 in New York in a loft in SoHo – they invited me down to look at this and I thought, ‘This is really amazing,’” Vikan recalled. A stock market windfall allowed Vikan to buy a number of those pieces for the Walters, and they are now included in the museum’s 100-piece collection of metalwork, icon painting, woodcarvings and ancient manuscripts that span 1,500 years of Ethiopian Christian devotion. The collection is now the central exhibit on the medieval floor of the Walters Art Museum.
“It’s in the pride position because it is so visually powerful that nothing else could dominate it,” Vikan said. “It dominates the Byzantine art around it.”
The Ethiopian Orthodox Christian collection also shares the medieval floor with Russian, Byzantine, and Georgian Orthodox art in the Baltimore museum.
“The others revolve around Ethiopia,” Vikan said. “It would make the room look funny [if they didn’t] because the others are not as visually strong.”
New Yorkers were recently given an opportunity to view about half of the Walters’ collection when the Museum of Biblical Art in New York City hosted “Angels of Light: Ethiopian Art from The Walters Art Museum” from March 23 through May 20.
If museum-goers had a feeling they were being watched as they entered the “Angels of Light” exhibition at the MOBIA, they had good reason. Huge, dark eyes similar to those that greeted Vikan in that Washington D.C. basement over 40 years ago were looking out from various devotional icon paintings depicting Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, almost always flanked by angels with equally large eyes that symbolize holiness.
Above:Anonymous painter. Triptych with Virgin and Child
Flanked by archangels, scenes from the life of Christ,
apostles and Saint George and Saint Mercurius. Ethiopia
(Gojjam?), late 17th century. Tempera on panel. 14 78 x
4 5/16 inches left; 15 1/8 x 9 inches center; 15 1/16 x 4
7/16 inches right. 36.7 museum purchased, the W. Alton
Jones Foundation Acquisition Fund, 1996, from the Nancy
and Robert Nooter Collection.
Most of the iconic paintings date between the 15th to 17th centuries in diptychs and triptychs depicting familiar Christian scenes – Christ on the cross; the Virgin Mary, seated, with the Christ child holding a book in his left hand, and embraced in Mary’s left arm with the first two fingers of her right hand pointing downward; Christ with a crown of thorns, Christ teaching the apostles.
While the compositions of these depictions can be traced to visiting missionaries and artists carrying with them Byzantine and Western examples of Christian iconic devotional paintings after the 14th century, the Ethiopian depictions are unique from any other depiction of Christian scenes in the world, MOBIA curator Holly Flora said.
“Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity has a very close relationship to angels that is not always found elsewhere,” said Flora. “Objects relating to healing as well are emphasized in Ethiopian art.”
Also unique to the art of Ethiopian Orthodoxy is the artists’ use of vibrant colors in paintings and manuscripts.
Above:Diptych with Virgin and Child flanked by archangels, apostles,
and Saint George. Ethiopia, late 15th century. Tempera on panel.
To understand what makes Ethiopian Orthodox Christian art unique, one must understand the role African traditional religions and Judaism played in Ethiopian culture prior to the introduction to Christianity, said Ayele Bekerie, assistant professor at Cornell University’s Africana Studies and Research Center.
“The influence of ancient religious traditions are manifested in what we now call Ethiopian Christianity, particularly in reaching out to angels and visualizing the biblical stories in colors and styles inspired by the material culture and environment,” Bekerie said. “It is important to note that most monasteries and some churches are built on top of hills and mountains where you experience remarkable and colorful views of the sunrise and sunset. Besides, the landscape is always a panorama of rainbow colors.”
Ethiopian Christianity also evolved out of a Judaic culture as well, established over 3,000 years ago. Bekerie tells the story:
“Judaism is introduced to Ethiopia at the time of Empress Makeda (She is also called Azeb and Queen of Sheba) and her son, Menelik I, the founder of the Solomonic Dynasty in Ethiopia. According to Ethiopian oral tradition, Empress Makeda paid a visit to King Solomon in Jerusalem where she made a deliberate journey in order to learn from the reported wisdom of the king. She did achieve her objective and even more by giving birth to Menelik, the son of the king. Menelik’s rite of passage was to travel to Jerusalem to meet with his father. The overjoyed king asked him to become the king of Israel, but the son wanted to return back to Ethiopia.”
“His return (there are many versions) resulted in the establishment of Judaism (a new tradition of believing in one God) in Ethiopia with the most important sacred symbol of the Ark at the center of the new belief system. When later on, Christianity emerged in Ethiopia, we observe a logical evolution of the faith from Judaism. This is because the Ethiopian Christianity is the only Christianity in the world that embraces and holds the Ark of the Covenant as its defining sacred symbol.”
“Ethiopians believe the Ark of the Covenant is in Ethiopia,” Flora said. “They will tell you unequivocally the Ark is there.”
Ethiopians believe the Ark is located in the Aksumite Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, but every church in Ethiopia and throughout the world must have a replica of the Ark in order affirm their legitimacy, Bekerie said.
Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian civilizations in the world. The religion was practiced along the Ethiopian coastline as early as 42 A.D., Bekerie said, after a Meroë (in what is modern day Sudan) merchant introduced commoners to the religion. Due to the inclusive nature of African traditional religions, Christians were able to worship openly without fear of persecution.
Perhaps more significantly, Ethiopia became one of the first countries in the world to take Christianity as its state religion approximately 300 years later when, according to legend, Frumentius, a Christian merchant seaman from Tyre on his way to India with relatives, became shipwrecked and was delivered to the king in Axum, a powerful world empire in the fourth century, Bekerie said.
“He was raised with special care and managed to master the language and traditions of the Aksumites,” said Bekerie. When the king’s son Ezana, came to power, the long-trusted Frumentius convinced him to make Christianity the state religion.
Proof of the conversion is part of the Walters Art Museum collection. Two silver coins, slightly larger in diameter than a pencil eraser, and crafted in the 4th century, show on one side the likeness of Aksumite King Ousanas, on the other, a cross. Aksumite coins are the first in the world to carry the cross, pre-dating Constantinople.
African traditional religious practices were also incorporated into the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian religion.
Protective scrolls, made for those who were ill or believed to be possessed by demons, were created (and still are today in some remote villages, Flora said), by clerics known as däbtära. The däbtära would sacrifice a goat, sprinkle the ill or those believed to be possessed with the goat’s blood, then fashion the scroll from the sacrificed goat’s skin, Flora said.
A healing scroll from the 18th century obtained by the Walters Museum and on display there, was created for a woman named “Martha.” The scrolls combined Christian imagery with magical incantations written in Ge´ez, a liturgical language developed in Ethiopia in the 4th century. The incantations were book-ended by talismans drawn at the top and bottom of the scroll and are believed to protect their owners, Flora said. The scrolls’ recipients then wore the prayer scrolls until they were believed healed.
Above:Prayer Scroll. Ethiopia,
19th century. Ink on parchment.
65 9/16 x 3 7/16 inches. W.788,
gift of Mr. James St. Lawrence
O’Toole, 1978.
Another prayer object that is unique to Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and features the well-honed abilities of Ethiopian metalworkers are processional crosses. Draped in purple textiles, the MOBIA featured six such crosses, almost six feet in height, dating as far back as the 13th century. Made of gold or silver, these crosses are carried by priests during processions and feature intricate geometrical patterns, Flora said.
“Priests carried these during mass and also used them as instruments of blessing,” she said.
Above:Hand Cross. Ethiopia, 18th–19th century.
While Ethiopian artists were almost unquestionably influenced by Western and Byzantine devotional icon painting in the 15th century, due in part, museum curators suggest, to the destruction of many church murals and liturgical objects during the Muslim invasions of the 1530s and 1540s, Bekerie said some observers are too quick to see overt Western influence in Ethiopian artists’ creative thought.
“It seems to me there is some sort of mental block not to acknowledge originality and creativity in the Ethiopian artists,” he said. “I always advise scholars to use the example of the architecture of the Debre Damo Monastery, the oldest monastery in Ethiopia.”
The monastery is constructed of stone blocks and logs, creating a distinct architectural feature, Bekerie said. Distinct painting traditions have also emerged in different regions of Ethiopia and are pursued by students over the centuries.
The monarchy and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Christian Church were institutional pillars that guided culture and politics in Ethiopia until the monarchy’s fall in 1974, Bekerie said.
“The monarchy is gone and the church is still place,” he said. “It is true that there are other religious institutions, including Islamic, Catholic and Protestant institutions. The oldest and by far the most influential is the Tewahedo Church. [Its] influence is apparent in art, music, social relations, food habits and literature.”
And as the collection of Ethiopian art becomes more popular, the sources for these collections become fewer, said Vikan.
“All of it’s drying up and that’s a good thing,” he said. “We need this art to be shown outside of the country, but [its distribution] needs to be controlled and shown in a way that acknowledges the dignity of the culture from which it comes.”
— About the Author: Colleen Lutolf is a reporter for Tadias Magazine.
New York – Born in 1968, in Aroussi, a rural village in Ethiopia, Etiyé Dimma Poulsen was orphaned at age two. Adopted by a Danish friend of the family, Gunnar Poulsen, Etiyé Poulsen’s turbulent childhood led her through Ethiopia, Tanzania, Kenya, and finally to Denmark. As a remedy for the constant uprooting and difficulties of communication that characterized her childhood, she began to paint at the age of fourteen. When no other alternative existed, painting became her expressive outlet. Poulsen studied art and art history in Denmark for two years. At 22, she traveled to France to live with partner and fellow artist Michel Moglia. Inspired by Moglia, Poulsen began sculpting in ceramics to once again communicate her worldview and emotions. In 1993, she relocated her studio to Antwerp, Belgium, where she presently lives and works.
Her elegant sculpture suggests lyric elisions and manipulation of the commonplace, yielding extraordinary and personal perceptions. Simultaneously balanced between the traditional and the modern, they evince refined sensibilities that explore new aesthetic territory derived from her travels to varied cultural arenas and an awareness of the formalist sculpture sources involved with the nature of the material she uses, including it’s cultural connections. The body of her works has the force of a determined idea. They are so profoundly personal to the artist that they all but command an equally personal response. Totemic, elongated and possessing a quiet dignity with detailed facial expressions and delicately glazed bodies, the figures evolve out of a complex process in which clay is put on an iron mesh armature and then painted before it goes through the firing process. Chance also plays an important role during the firing process and accepted as a natural part of creation by the artist. This allows for the formation of cracks which give the works their distinct characteristics, a unity of paint treatment and over-all tonalities.
Poulsen’s works have been exhibited in Africa, Europe and the US including 2000 Dakar Biennale, Senegal; 2002 Alliance Francaise, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2003 Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, 2004, Museum of World Culture, Goteborg, Sweden, 2006, Skoto Gallery, New York.
She is also represented in several public and private collections such as The Herbert F. Johnson Museum, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, Museum of African Art, Washington DC, Jean Paul Blachere Foundation, France and The Hans Bogatzke Collection of Contemporary African Art, Germany.
Defining herself as a cultural hybrid, Poulsen has always been drawn to African art and aesthetics. She attributes this attraction to an unconscious cultural memory. Consciously, she uses Ethiopian art as a tool in her creative process. She rejects the “primitive” stigmatization of artists of African descent and views it as a barrier to her own artistic expression. When language barriers grew too great, Etiye’s paintings and sculptures spoke for her. The works of Etiyé Dimma Poulsen, she stresses, are the embodiment of her vision and emotions which she attempts to communicate to the world.
Aztec Woman, 2005, mixed media, 23x10x4 inches.
Source:Skoto Gallery. Working around Archetypes: New Sculptures by Etiye Dimma Poulsen
Above:Tseday Alehegn during her walks through Harlem with Tesfaye Tessema
By Tseday Alehegn
Before arriving at Artist Tesfaye’s studio in Harlem, his home of twenty years, we took a tour of historic areas where Ethiopian and African-American ties runs deep and undisturbed. We traversed slowly and observantly across Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard, named after the fiery pastor of Harlem’s legendary Abyssinian Baptist Church, and walked through African Square, lined with colorful West African vendors and stores. Continuing our promenade towards Lenox Avenue, we spotted an Ethiopian-owned cafe called Settepani, a popular hangout for Harlem’s young elite. As we strolled by Jackie Robinson’s Park, a young African American man, recognizing our Ethiopian ancestry, smiled and greeted us with a hearty Tenayistelegn! Above: Top left, Jackie Robinson’s Park; Middle Right, Harlem’s legendary Abyssinian Baptist Church. Photos by Tseday Alehegn
Walking through Harlem with Tess (as he is known in Harlem), two things become quickly evident: The first being that this neighborhood has, as the artist tells us, “a feeling of home.” And the latter, that his love for this community fuels his art. Above:Tesfaye Tessema in Brooklyn, New York. Photo by Liben Eabisa
One of his recent exhibitions at Skoto Gallery in New York (one of the first galleries to specialize in contemporary African Art in the United States), was entitled Addis Improvisations: Art from Harlem. This series is an afrocentric, jazzy-expression of joint heritage. Above:Left, Addis Improvisation III, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 72×54 inches. Right, Addis Improvisation I, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 72″x39″. Photos courtesy of Skoto Gallery.
Tesfaye’s journey to Harlem can be traced back to his early high school days, when he was a student at Menelik High School in Addis Ababa. On one particular day, his class was excused and students were asked to attend a special gathering at the National Theatre. “We were told that an important person from Harlem had arrived, and we saw several men dressed in fancy suits setting up their musical instruments on stage. Their leader was called Duke Ellington,” he recalls. The young Tesfaye was mesmerized as the concert began with Ellington’s famous “A-Train” composition. This extraordinary opportunity to listen to Ellington play jazz remained etched in Tesfaye’s mind, his first introduction to jazz and to Harlem.
Many years later, after arriving in Washington, D.C. to pursue a Masters of Fine Arts at
Howard University, he developed lasting friendships within the African-American community, and rekindled his passion for Harlem. After completing his art studies, Tesfaye moved to Harlem. He now lives in the same building where Duke Ellington once resided. “I feel at home here,” he says. “I tell my African-American friends that, just as they look for their roots, I search for my branches. Together we form a tree.”
Harlem, and jazz in particular, have profoundly impacted Tesfaye’s art. Speaking about his career as an artist, he says, “My art lately is an improvisation. I consider myself a jazz painter. I play jazz with my brush.” Above:Left, 155th/Amsterdam Avenue II, 2003, acrylic on canvas, 24″x16″. Right, Addis Improvisation V, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 72″x54″. Photos courtesy of Skoto Gallery.
Art itself had also been an integral part of Tesfaye’s childhood experience. “I’ve known art since I knew myself,” he says. “While other children played together, I grew up in a household with no other children, so art became my game. I played art. I drew on walls with charcoal, and I looked around for natural objects to create color – green from leaves and yellow from mustard,” he shares. “Whenever I accompanied my mother to church, I used to stare at the paintings on the walls during prayers. To me, this art was able to express spiritual concepts that are not as easily expressed through words.” After attending Menelik school, Tesfaye longed to enter the National Fine Arts School — conveniently located right next door. He was accepted and commenced formal studies in art there before going on to pursue graduate studies at Howard.
Tesfaye Tessema is not only a master painter but also a master print maker and a muralist. He also uses etching, lithography, and mixed media. His art has been collected by prestigious institutions, such as the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and the United Nations in New York City. Alongside the works of famous African-American artists such as Romare Bearden, Tesfaye Tessema’s paintings are prominently featured in the Schomburg Center’s publication Black New York Artists of the 20th Century. The United Nations transformed one of his paintings into a stamp that raised over $300,000 for famine relief in Ethiopia. He was also commissioned to paint a mural by the Museum of African Arts (the Smithsonian) on Capitol Hill. Tesfaye stands as one of the only contemporary Ethiopian artists to display his artwork at established institutions like the Guggenheim Museum in New York. His art has been exhibited at various universities throughout the U.S. as well as internationally in France,Germany, England, Japan, and many other countries. Above:Addis Improvisation IV, 2004, acrylic on canvas, 56″x54″. Photo courtesy of Skoto Gallery.
Throughout his career, Tesfaye has emphasized his appreciation for public art. “I think people have the right to claim my art,” he says, seeing art as his service to individuals and contribution to the public in general. He uses the sights and sounds of his two communities, Ethiopian and African-American, to make art that positively reinforces their harmony.
“I would really like the world to know that all of us are artists,” he says. “There are no special people made to be artists. What comes out on the canvas is what we’ve all taken in from our environment, expressed through our own personal interpretation.”
A Harlem moment with Tesfaye teaches us to appreciate not only the art but also the artist.
———————– About the Author: Tseday Alehegn is the Editor-in-Chief of Tadias Magazine. Tseday is a graduate of Stanford University (both B.A. & M.A.). In addition to her responsibilities at Tadias, she is also a Doctoral student at Columbia University.
Born in Ethiopia, Yadesa, also known as Yaddi, immigrated to the United States in 1995. Yaddi showed an interest in art since his early childhood. Even though he does not remember when he started painting, as a sixth grader his school commissioned him to paint a mural.
Above:Dreamer
Yaddi’s first exposure and memories of art was as a child gazing at murals often found in Ethiopian Orthodox churches. These murals used line drawings filled with bold, vibrant colors.
Above:Worshippers
In Seattle, Yaddi studied art at Seattle Pacific University where he earned his Bachelors degree in Visual Communication. He also attended Seattle Central Community College and received an Associates of Art degree in Graphic Design.
Yaddi’s exposure to African Art and western art gives him a unique opportunity to understand their relationship as well as their differences. While studying art history Yaddi examined how every art genre and classification derived or inherited from each other, and the existence of one was based on the existence of the other. He also examined the influence of African art on western art and vice versa.
Above:Madonna
Yaddi believes his work is a byproduct of the cultural diversity he enjoyed while living in Addis Ababa and Seattle. In his work he tries to capture the life of those who are ‘invisible’ to the mainstream, and he hopes that his work will become a tool for social change.
Above: Prisoners of Haven
—- To contact the artist please write to: YADESA BOJIA, 13745 34th Ave. S. Tukwila, WA 98168 Tel: 206-501-9958
On Friday April 27, the solo exhibition of NYU’s Artist-in-Residence, Maluwa opens at the Kimmel Center in New York City.
Maluwa brings more than just a fresh look to the silhouette. Those with a weak sense of art history are likely to think of Kara Walker when looking at Maluwa because both artists work in silhouette. The silhouette is the contrivance of the French Minister of Finance and amateur Etienne de Silhouette (1709-67). In its original form it was a profile portrait filled in with black, thereby eliminating all features except the contour of the profile. Thus, the derogatory adjective, silhouette, suggesting an empty policy. The silhouette is a child of its originator’s recall of Italian quattrocento portraits.
These portraits in turn were derived from the —so to speak– high profile personages depicted on ancient coins.
This is why it is impossible to look at a silhouette without nostalgically recalling the content of First or Second Style Renaissance portraits in profile. You would ask, what happened to the beautiful faces of Ghirlandaio’s Giovanna Tornabuoni, those profile portraits by Pollaiuolo and Botticelli and what about Mantegna’s magnificent talking profiles of the Duke of Montefeltro and his wife?
So anyone working in silhouette had better come up with something of formal (or contra-formal) integrity. You can use this dilemma as a point of departure for the works of both Maluwa and Walker. Beyond that, the two are as different as night and day. Maluwa’s contour is rendered in studied neglect in contrast to Walker’s emulation of the precision of Renaissance contour in scissor cut images. Then, there is the place of the text which in Walker is indispensable to the image, didactic and intellectualized.
Maluwa’s silhouettes in contrast speak to an ancestral presence, the spirit or ethos of a culture and less to how that culture and its people has been brutalized. Here, there is cosmic memory, ancestral recall, not a history lesson in picture-text juxtaposition.
The images may sometimes be the shadows of forgotten or praised ancestors whose stillness recalls the Egyptian law of frontality but break away from it in body torsion contained in the flatness of the silhouette. References to the stars and stripes place some of these works in a very contemporary political context but the feeling that comes across is not of the present but of those aspects of our culture desired but still elusive: the American dream as something dreamed a long time ago. Maluwa uses some devices that could attain a greater degree of clarity or intent. We often see symbols that remind us of: greater than, less than, absolute value, is contained in, contains, member of, logical sum, divided by, plus, minus —and so forth. These along with the Egyptian sensibility seem to evoke hieroglyphs. The the symbols are rendered so casually that one cannot tell if they are meant to be taken literally or are just a sketchy compliment to the silhouettes.
