Ethio Art in DC

Many artists who are familiar with the art seen in Ethiopia claim that people in Addis appreciate art more than do most Ethiopians in the United States. The Ethiopian community in the U.S. rarely buys contemporary Ethiopian arts.

There are only a few new successful art dealers such as Makush Art and Addis Gallary, and a few Ethiopian art collectors. Additionally, the number of attendants in exhibitions and art discussions are much less than the number of people who frequent nightclubs.

Regardless, many art shows are held throughout Washington DC metropolitan area. Some stages are easier to access than some exhibitions for Ethiopian artists. For example, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art has exhibited only a few art works by Ethiopians. However, Ethiopian businesses such as the World Space Building and Café Collage used to host frequent art shows by Ethiopian Artists.

To give a glimpse of the artistic activities in DC, I will recount Daniel Taye’s art discussion that took place at the Café Collage in Washington DC, where his art was displayed in 2004. Participants were several alumni of the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa including Daniel Taye, Meseret Desta, and Mekbib Gebre Sadik, friends of the artists, and art lovers.

Mr. Taye was given a stage to talk about his inspirations, techniques and life. The dialogue went on to explore such diverse topics as the way people lived in Shakiso, orphans in Addis Ababa and Jesus Christ’s missing years.

Mr. Taye said he became an artist accidentally, but he later revealed guided endeavors that grabbed and held his attention in Art. For instance, he recalled observing his childhood friend who was handicap, often drawing. Daniel said he then picked up the habit from his friend and became illustrator for his classmates in elementary school. He became a person who sketched drawing assignments for some of his classmates.

Another inspirational moment Mr. Taye discussed was a national art award he received from Mengistu Haile Marilam, when he was young. The government sponsored contest from the classroom to a national level. The award wining work was a playground painted in two colors only: red and blue. Daniel shared that his painting probably won the contest because the art related to the authorities’ desire to see uniformity in the society.

Mr. Taye talked about the celebrity status his family, school and community showered him for winning the art contest.

But he said what motivated him the most to become an artist was one persons disparaging remark that Daniel, like many Habesha youth, probably would not finish what he started. This man owned a meat shop in Mr. Taye’s neighborhood. Daniel, as child, was disturbed by the comment. He said that the criticism reinforced his desire to further explore Art. He said he felt he had to prove the butcher the comment he made was wrong.

Daniel studied at the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa and was eventually admitted. This prominent art school admitted only 25 to 30 students out of 700 to 1000 applicants annually.

He was asked if he got in the school through family, friends, or one of the Ethiopian orthodox Saints’ help, but the answer was not clear. However, he talked about the rigorous processes he went through to join the school: a seven weeks testing process, which involved drawing a steal life, portrait, portrait with hand, and creating a full composition.

Once he was admitted to the Art school, on one hand, he expressed his boredom he sometimes felt, on the other hand, he articulated his appreciation for the fundamental skills that the school thought him. Specifically, he communicated his gratefulness for the training the school provided to paint and draw an image to a photographic precision.

He confidently shared about his happiest memory when his favorite teacher, Professor Eshetu Teruneh, kissed him on his forehead. This experience might be yet another encouraging experience that pulled Mr. Taye even deeper into the realm of art.

After he graduated from the School of Fine Arts his government job sent him to Shakiso. When he first moved there, he wanted to spread the Christian gospel. He had studied the bible in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. However, after a staying in Shakiso for a while, he wanted to be a student instead of a teacher.

Daniel observed injustice at this southern Ethiopia in the late 1980s. The native men of Shakiso were frequently abducted to dig out minerals. They were then blindfolded so that they could not see the direction to the mines. Every night after completing their back breaking work, the men where given YeKoso Medhaanite, a strong herbal laxative and were forced to examine their own stool for any gold they may have swallowed, to smuggle. They were never paid and lived in poverty, which Daniel eventually joined. He spent most of his time there with homeless people of Shakiso. He was disgusted by the disparity between the natives living is squalid conditions while the government officials and workers lived luxurious homes.

Most of the people who had decent jobs in Shakiso came from Addis Ababa. When he shared his painful experiences and the injustices he witnessed in Shakiso, Professor Eshetu Turuneh, his mentor, told him to paint the images of the people. Mr. Taye then used his art as a healing mechanism.

Even though his supervisor Shakiso instructed him to sculpture an attractive woman from then neighboring city, Daniel sculpted an image of an older person with infected with elephantitis disease from working inside the gold mine, which is usually in swamps.

When he was asked about where he gets specific images for his work, he said he used to pray for it before. It seems like his prayer has been answered. He said now everything around him inspires him.

He said he has trained his eyes to see everything inside a framed and store the images in his mind to reproduce it at any time and place when he paints. Because of this technique he developed, Daniel said he has painted over 500 canvasses and have more than 3000 sketches.

After observing different emotions in his face, one of the participants, Azeb Mekonen, asked Mr. Taye if he is grateful for being in the profession that he chose and love. He answered his only compliant is that Emuyea, his girlfriend, is not beside him.

Azeb also asked him to explain one of his arts that depict a malnourished child sitting under a corner of a bed. He said he found that image during his visit to an orphanage, in Addis Ababa. A 12 to 13 years old girl captured Daniel’s attention. He observed that she was the oldest in the orphanage. He saw her sadness in her eyes and realized that she probably knows, because of her age and looks, no one would adopt her. This orphan girl had become a caregiver for younger kids who have more chance to be adopted. On that day, he returned to his studio and painted the girl seated in a fetus position at a corner of a bed, looking at the world scornfully.

There was a debate at the discussion between two groups of artists. One believed an art must be “finished” before it is presented to audiences. My lack of deep knowledge in Art prevented me from understanding how to assess if an art is complete or still needs work. The other group of artist believed as long as the theme of the art is complete; an artist does not have any obligation to incorporate artistic elements they learned in art school.

The moderator asked Mr. Taye if he copied Maron, An American artist, who used painting tricks that create illusions of slashed canvases. Daniel said he started to create the illusion long before he found out about Maron’s work, but once he learned about him, he started to create an illusion of the slit on a canvases being sown in some of his paintings, such as on his art titled Temesgen.

This beautiful peace of art depicts Daniel’s self-portrait, headless and holding a canvas on his left hand, standing to the left of a huge cross that towers him. The cross divides the canvas in to two. To the left of the cross, gloomy color dominates, and on the right, vibrant yellow and green colors glow. An array that comes from the right side of the cross, travel over to the left half to touch the canvas that Daniel is holding. At the bottom of the vertical part of the cross, one could see the illusion Daniel created of a tear on the canvas being stitched.

Right before the discussion concluded, an older gentle man who quietly observed the discussion shared a piece of Ethiopian Art history, even the artists did not know. Dr. Fiseha Tsion Kassa, who studied religion, philosophy, and political science in Ethiopia, Greek and France, started speak calmly by praising Daniel’s art and the art discussion.

Dr. Kassa then emphasized the importance understanding Ethiopian Art history. Artist Meseret eagerly ask Dr. Kassa to share with them some Ethiopian art history. Dr. Kassa said, in the past, all the Ethiopian church arts where taken very seriously. Artists had to be thought Kenea, an Ethiopian allegorical writing and speaking.

In addition, each of the Saints’ images had to be painted at designated places with strict procedure. Dr. Feseha expressed his dismay that currently Ethiopia is flooded with cheap and false foreign imitation of Jesus Christ, Mary and Saints’ images.

Dr. Kassa also shared fascinating information. He talked about Jesus Christ life between the ages of 12 to 30. The rest of the world describes this year as being the “missing years.”

Dr. Kassa also mentioned the Ge’ez books titled TeAmere Eyesuse (miracles of Jesus) and Dersane Raguel (the book of Ragulels) documents the full accounts of Jesus Christ’s life. Specifically, that he went to Ethiopia twice: once with his mother where he went as far as Tana and second, when he was twelve to learn among many things, Ge’ez and Hebrew languages.

Among many events, these books document an incident between Jesus Christ and one of his teachers, Memeher Semon. Specifically, at one time, the young Jesus accidentally knocked off and spilled two containers holding red and black paints. The teacher, Memeher Semon, who was also an artist and a writer, expressed his disappointment because it is a long and hideous process to make paints. Jesus Christ, then, miraculously separated the two colors. These books also describe that Jesus Christ went on a learning expedition all around the world, including Ethiopia, India, China, the U.S., and Mexico.

These types of enlightening discussions took place throughout the Washington DC Metropolitan area. The owners of Café Collage, Sankofa Bookstore and World Space Building create venues for Ethiopian artists to come together and shine.