Exile Within: Adiskidan Ambaye

Capturing the tumultuous pattern of the modern world through the prism of spirituality, Adiskidan Ambaye opens a doorway into her perception. Exile Within is a contemplative collection that draws viewers into the space between absence and presence, examining how empty space gives shape to what is visible.

The paintings are made up of layers of small circles building out to create amorphous, semi-figurative shapes. These layers give a sense of movement and depth, adding texture to a flat surface. The circles that make up these figures are reminiscent of the eggshells Adiskidan used to apply to her earlier works. The figures in these paintings are endlessly intertwined, background meeting foreground in dazzling colors.

The three sculptures included in this exhibition echo the gestural shapes in Adiskidan’s paintings. Small slivers of plywood are fused, giving new life to dead driftwood. These sculptures are delicately and impossibly balanced, their limbs seeming to stretch out in a dancer’s pose.

Adiskidan Ambaye (b. 1977) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and spent her teenage years in Germany. She graduated from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2002 after studying furniture design and sculptures. She has exhibited her work at African Women (2001), World Space Centre, Washington DC, Chicago Museum of Industrial Design (2007), Chicago, Africa by Design (2017), Ghana, Addis Fine Art, Addis Ababa (2020) and London (2023), CFHILL Art Space (2021), in Stockholm, and NADA Exhibition Space (2024), New York.