Elizabeth Giorgis
Elizabeth Giorgis focuses on the progressive loss of city archives in Addis Ababa due to the rapid modernisation of the city and questions the place and role of young artists in this transformation. She examines the effects that these transformations have on the local communities and how artists’ works can draw attention to these changes. She presents and discusses the work of artists Michael Tesfaye, Mihret Kebede, and Berhanu Ashagrie Deribew.
Synthesis
The Institute of Ethiopian Studies • The manipulation of archives • Addis Ababa undergoing urban transformation • Archives being erased as a result • Expand…
The Institute of Ethiopian Studies • The manipulation of archives • Addis Ababa undergoing urban transformation • Archives being erased as a result • Young artists questioning their identity in relation to the past of Addis Ababa • European colonialists tried to erase African archives • The Chinese are attempting to do the same • Africa transcends • Artist Michael Tesfaye • How to talk about the future being disconnected from the past • City’s future development contrasted against its poorer past and present • Indigenous structures replaced by poor quality modern constructions • Communities being dismantled • Cemeteries cleared to make way for roads • Menelik Palace • Power existing alongside poverty • Clearing areas for development • The effects this has on the local population • Artist Mihret Kebede • The hidden and the apparent • Powerful work of performance by young artists in Addis Ababa • Questioning the use of advertising in the public space • Artist Berhanu Ashagrie Deribew • The interchange of space and place • The homogenisation of public space according to international aesthetic standards • Real censorship vs. self-censorship • The Changing DNA of Addis Ababa – Goethe-Institut
Short biography
Elizabeth Giorgis, art historian, professor, and preeminent scholar on the subject of Ethiopian art and culture. Expand…
Elizabeth Giorgis, art historian, professor, and preeminent scholar on the subject of Ethiopian art and culture. She holds a PhD from the Department of History of Art and Visual Studies of Cornell University, an MA in Museum Studies from New York University, and has written extensively on Ethiopian art. As a curator, Giorgis has presented exhibitions at the Modern Art Museum and the Museum of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, both in Addis Ababa. She was most recently a Visiting Professor in the Humanities at the Cogut Center at Brown University, Providence, USA.