« From Modern to Contemporary : Artists from the Horn of Africa and Diaspora » is an exhibition featuring artists from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan. Brought together by CFHILL Art Space and Addis Fine Art for a large-scale exhibition at CFHILL Art Space in Stockholm, the first of its kind to occur in Scandinavia with African artists.
The works of nineteen artists on display to the public, each working in a wide range of mediums, including sculpture, painting, textiles, video and photography.
In recent years, the art world has responded to social pressures and turned its gaze to Africa. However, despite this renewed interest, artists from the Horn of Africa are still generally unknown.
With this in mind, Addis Fine Art was created in 2016 to highlight artists from Ethiopia, but also those from neighboring countries that share cultural ties. It is in this context of urgent interest in African contemporary art that this exhibition focuses on the best talent from this area and the diaspora.
The exhibition is organized according to themes and chronology, divided into four segments: Modernists, Contemporaries, Diaspora, and Emerging Artists.
The main segment is devoted to the pioneers, the exceptionally respected Ethiopian specialists who left the Alle School of Fine Arts – the most experienced art school in East Africa – in the 1970s.
The contemporaries, those mid-vocational artists who were to a large extent prepared by modernists. The diaspora includes artists whose roots are in the Horn of Africa, but who are currently spread across the globe. In the last category, emerging artists, we discover the new avant-garde of contemporary artists from the continent and the diaspora.
The artists participating in the exhibition « From Modern to Contemporary : Artists from the Horn of Africa and Diaspora » are Tadesse Mesfin, Lulseged Retta, Merikokeb Berhanu, Tesfaye Urgessa, Addis Gezehagn, Adiskidan Ambaye, Ermias Kifleyesus, Tsedaye Makonnen, Daniela Yohannes, Tizta Berhanu, Selome Muleta, Girma Berta, Helina Metaferia, Tariku Shiferaw, Atong Atem, Girmachew Getnet, Nigatu Tsehay, Tegene Kunbi, Yasmeen Abdullah .
