Tariku Shiferaw, Kinfolk (Mereba), 2020, Courtesy of the artist and Addis Fine Art
(...) To this end we have Addis Fine Art; the first contemporary white cube gallery space in Ethiopia. Rakeb Sile and Mesai Haileleul co-fouded Addis Fine Art in 2016. In 2019 it was described as one of the “Most Important Young Galleries in the World” by Artsy. Yet before the explosion of African art in the mainstream Haileleul remembers things were different, “I founded my own gallery in LA which focused on Ethiopian art. To be honest, although there was some degree of interest in the artists I was exhibiting, particularly from the Ethiopian community, wider interest was limited. This experience really taught me a lot about the art world’s receptiveness to ‘African art’ and how to run a gallery”. (...)
