Merikokeb Berhanu

For 15 years Merikokeb Berhanu (B. 1977) painted in relative obscurity in her studio in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Working diligently throughout this period, she created a unique transcendental visual language, a symbiosis of abstraction with elements of figuration, steeped in symbolism derived from the natural world. Following her graduation in the early 2000s from Alle School of Fine Art in Addis Ababa, Merikokeb and her peers founded the Nubia Studio, an artist’s studio collective and exhibition space. Here they found strength in numbers, increasing their visibility and chances of being able one day to forge their own individual careers. During this period, she honed her craft, finding some commercial success at home, but remaining largely unknown to the international art market until around 2016 when she began working with Addis Fine Art. She had her first solo show with the gallery as well as exhibited at a international art fair for the first time in 2016. Merikokeb has since garned interntional attention, exhibting in New York, London, Addis Ababa, and Stockholm.