Aida combines drawing with photo

Raised in Canada, now living and working in Addis, Aida Muluneh is an artist of humane sensibilities, as her recent photographic work illustrates. With a background in film and photography, Aida has been focusing on photography for the past ten years and her images have appeared in numerous exhibitions in Cuba, Canada, England, Germany, Israel, Spain and Mali. A book of her work, called “Ethiopia: Past/Forward,” was published in September 2009 in Belgium.
Aida seems to be drawn to a sense of place and timelessness, known and familiar, self and other. Most of her images are black and white, which are inspired from her way of looking at the world in black and white. “Truth is either black or white. Human elements are exhibited though it. Black and white is the foundation. Color is tricky. But whatever I use, my focus is capturing light,” she says. Her shots depict the lives of regular folk: a girl on a horse, a woman at the doorway, women holding hands with their faces obscured, a pretty veiled girl looking at us with Bob Marley poster behind her. The photos capture the raw human emotions of mourning, anger, contentment and they come out as a touching story of girls and women becoming visible and discovering their self-acceptance.

Aida Muluneh to present second solo show

Award-wining photographer Aida Muluneh will present “So Long Letter”, her second solo show on May 31st, 2013 at Addis Ababa’s TO.MO.CA gallery. The exhibition is a dedication to women in Ethiopia and is inspired by one of her favorite books “So Long a Letter” by Senegalese writer Mariama Bâ, she announced on her Facebook page.
Aida first exhibited at Asni Gallery in 2012 that showcased her photographs combined with drawings.Throughout her work, the artist tackles the issue of identity, memory, dislocation, the self and “otherness”, that remains open to the spectator’s imagination.
Aida was born in Addis Ababa in 1974. She later attended high school in Canada where she studied photography. She graduated in film from Howard University, Washington D.C. in 2001. Aida is the recipient of the 2007 European Union Prize of the Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie, in Bamako, Mali and winner of the 2010 CRAF International Award of Photography in Spilimbergo, Italy.
Aida’s works are found in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Biblical Art, New York. She has exhibited her works in Belgium, Canada, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, the Netherlands, Serbia, Spain, South Africa, the UAE and USA.
Opening day. May 31st, 2013 at 6:00pm, Galleria TO.MO.CA which is located in front of Canadian Embassy in Sar Bet, For more information, call at +251 933527134.

Addis Photo Fest underway

Addis is putting photography in the spotlight this week. The Addis Foto Fest 2012 opened on Monday night at the historic Etege Taitu Hotel in Piassa, Addis Ababa. The festival features some 45 photographers and curators from Africa, USA and Europe and nine exhibitions across 7 venues. Aida Muluneh, director and founder of the photo fest, said that the festival is moving forward towards becoming a key event in the landscape of African contemporary art and culture. “Our goal continues in each edition to provide opportunities to expose our participants and viewers to the various ways in which the image of Africa is portrayed,” Aida wrote in the catalogue.

Photography and painting exhibition

An art show featuring acclaimed photographer Aida Muluneh and emerging painter Emanuel Tegene opened on July 5, 2012 at the Italian Cultural Institute in Addis Ababa. Entitled “The Art of memory”, the exhibit is a collection of 16 photographs and 37 paintings, produced in different times, by the artists who are now husband and wife. Aida and Emanuel pair their creations to showcase ‘an idea of our inner self, of captured moments that resonates a connection to our surroundings, of our past and our inner truths,” they wrote the in the exhibition leaflet. While the photos captures dazzling human moments, which Aida maximizes through sense of composition, the paintings reflect of the moment with highly accomplished images and rich color.

Recycling plastic bottles into art

Exploring issue of environmental sustainability in a visual art has been around the corner for some time and one Ethiopian artist found inspiration to create a unique work of art in what some people may consider “garbage”.
Tewodros Bekele is one of the artists exhibiting his work as part of the 2012 edition of Fana Wogi Open Call, an event that is now held every year. Using found objects and throwaway treasures, the Addis-based experimental artist is displaying works with the themes and imagery of nature and society. A series of the artist’s meticulously decorated sculptures made from plastic water bottles have filled the gallery of the Modern Art Museum/ Gebre Kristos Desta Center.The artist gives the plastic a melting, almost alluring luminosity and the fluid surfaces of his sculptures seem to welcome not just the embrace of light but also the caress of the viewer’s hand.By exploring size and scale, the natural world and the urban environment, Tewodros invites his audience to question ways of seeing and experiencing art.