Agape: Tizta Berhanu

Tizta Berhanu’s solo exhibition, Agape, opens at our Addis Ababa gallery on 5 January, 2025. The title of the exhibition comes from the Ancient Greek word which refers to the highest form of love, a divine love which transcends and endures against all obstacles.

Tizta Berhanu was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1991 where she has lived and worked her entire life. She graduated in 2013 from the Addis Ababa University, Alle School of Fine Arts and Design.

Tizta Berhanu continues to explore love in these recent works, mining its depths and complexities to find new dimensions. Inspired by feelings of compassion and empathy, Tizta reflects on her life and her interactions with people through her oil paintings.

Cool and subdued colors are translucently layered on the canvas in waves of swirling brushstrokes. The figures glow in lucent light, inviting the observer to investigate their emotions. Faces with discernible expressions emerge from these dreamlike compositions. Their embraces are intimate but even in the midst of their entanglement, their identity is not obscured.

The figures are an amalgamation of expressions and gestures she gleaned from models, photographs, and people on the internet, collaged into a composition of her own imagination. Tizta intends these works to incite empathy in the observer, encouraging a deeper engagement with the relationships we have with each other.

Tizta’s work has been exhibited in various group and solo shows in Nigeria, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States, including three solo exhibitions with Addis Fine Art: Heber in Addis Ababa (2021), The Armory Show in New York (2021), and Synthesis of Souls in London (2023).