Eyerusalem Jiregna, The City of Saints X, 2017.
[...] Over the last five years contemporary Ethiopian artists have been making a name for themselves on the global art market, but it's been a long time coming. After almost four decades of political turmoil, famine and wars, the East African country has found increasing social and economic stability, with a growing middle class and investment in large-scale infrastructure projects. Since coming into power in 2018, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has followed a wide-reaching reform agenda including initiatives to bolster culture.
Now, though, artists are in a better position to share their aesthetics and narratives with the world. And as Ethiopia opens up, a fledgling collector base is developing. "We have been telling people 'You guys have a goldmine here and you need to take notice' because once the world gets a hold of this, it is going to be unaffordable here," said Rakeb Sile, co-founder of Addis Fine Arts, iwhich has galleries in both Addis and London, over the phone. [...]
