Ethiopian American Tsedaye Makonnen’s work explores the impact of police brutality and migration through the lens of intersectional feminism. Although much of the aesthetic representation of her work remains deeply embedded in the visual culture of her Ethiopian roots, Makonnen connects these visual renderings of ritual and memorialization with transnational contemporary issues experienced primarily by black women. Her physical works are often accompanied by performance, rituals to those that have suffered in the past, connecting them to the present. The visual imagery of her work often focuses on the refraction of light.
One of Makonnen’s most recent works, Senait & Nahom, consists of mirrored light towers laser cut with Ethiopian Coptic Crosses into acrylic panel, each named after a black women who has died at the hands of police brutality or crossing the Mediterranean Sea seeking refuge. The crosses selected are the most common Ethiopian Christian crosses, representing protection and healing as well as rebirth. The mirrors invite the audience to reflect on the experiences of these women, to see themselves in them, to embody their experience. The aim of the artwork is to show respect to the women who lost their lives prematurely, whilst also demanding the justice that they deserve. The title refers to two Eritreans who passed away in a European detention center.
You Give Light, Makonnen’s following artwork, is another light monument, and was accompanied by a performance of women wearing scarves printed with Amharic words of protection, with the textiles wrapped around the performers shielding them from the dangers that those memorialized in the artwork faced. The artwork comes to embody the need for protection that these women require, and provides a visibility to them which has gone unnoticed. It also serves as a memorial to play tribute to the women represented in her work.
The next country will be…. Oman!
Photo credits: Addis Fine Art and Joey Kennedy
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