My artistic interest dates back to my childhood days. I have always been a keen observer of and fascinated by the human drama which unfolds around me. Although the urge to share my sense of the mystery of our existence and behavior, its undiluted uniqueness and unfettered convention, has been present with me for a long time, I had to wait until it spontaneously burst out of me.

I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 1982, during the height of Ethiopia's political turmoil, I migrated to the United States to avoid persecution by the military socialist regime then in power. Upon coming to the United States, I decided to pursue a career in the arts, and enrolled in the theater and arts management program at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, Virginia. After graduation, in 1987, I immersed in many disciplines within the creative world. In May 2000, I completed the Masters in Fine Art Program at Howard University.

My paintings incorporate the fusion of experiences, observation, influences and contemplation spanning my entire life. Growing up in my native Ethiopia, my childhood imagination was always moved by the ragged lines, the warm colors, the expressive eyes, and the stories told by ancient religious paintings in the churches.

The silent contention between good and evil was powerfully expressed in simple patterns and symbols. The motifs, the call and the ritual were slowly submerged and imprinted in the recesses of my subconscious mind. There were also many anonymous priests with whom I connected, not through personal acquaintance but momentary glances.

I have drawn a lot of inspiration, if not much direct artistic influence, from such Ethiopian artists as Skunder Boghassian, Gebre Kiristos Desta and Fasil Dawit. My influences and inspiration are broad based. It could be as simple as a gesture and complicated as human behavior. It could be jazz music or theater. It could be a form or an expression. It could be rhythm and improvisation or emotion and movement. I am faces, concepts, and cultures. I am memories and characters. I am mirrors and whispers. I am movements, journeys and crossroads. I shiver and tremble when I see something greater than life. I am in constant search of places, people and things. I am in search of ideas.

My everyday experience is like a dance in my mind and this visual dance in my mind unfolds a form. That form, from one moment to another, becomes endless compositions. I reflect my roots, I reflect moments as they suggest to me. I am a storyteller in color and I am always ready with pregnant thoughts of moments, cultures and nature. I am vast concepts and ideas of human nature and behavior. I am thoughts that are about humanity - thoughts of freedom, pain, struggle, life, humility, fate and thoughts of strength and love. I stand intertwined with the suspended time and space, willingly listening and looping myself with symbols, myths, color, movement, shapes, rhythm and forms.

My artistic interest will always make me an explorer. I am a gypsy who tries to tell eyeful stories by means of color, brush strokes, movements, shapes and characters. These stories visualize and portray my story, the stories of the Africans, the stories of the Americans and the stories of the world.

Glance at the journey that has made the strong spiritual images into a visual force. It intertwines the spirit of creation and myself into a tapestry that both precedes and extends beyond our brief lives. I propagate afresh the craft handed down to me through the forces of colorful dialogue. I have immersed myself in a journey of vastness and depth to form a window of imagination, to be one with the music of nature. I coalesce and confirm the illusion but reality is illusion and illusion reality.

EXHIBITIONS & AWARDS

1995 Solo exhibition, Swingin' Colors, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Washington, DC
1995 Group exhibition, Women in Sync, AYASO International Fine Art, Washington, DC
1996 Group exhibition, Abstract Visions: African American History Month & Women's History Month Exhibition, National Public Radio, Washington, DC
1996 One Woman Show, Color is Rhythm -Rhythm is Color, AYASO International Fine Art,
Washington, DC
1997 Group exhibition, Traditions of Ethiopian Art: History, Ceremony, Storytelling, Charles Sumner School Museum & Gallery, Washington, DC
1997 The International Art Biennale, Malta, Europe (Watercolour & Drawing, 5th prize)
1997 Group exhibition, Five Painters from Ethiopia, Montgomery College, Takoma Park, MD
1998 Group exhibition, Exhibit of Contemporary African Art, World Space, Washington, DC
1998 Group exhibition, Gallery 500, Washington, DC
1999 Group exhibition, REBIRTH, AYASO International Fine Art, Washington, DC
2000 Group exhibition, The National Summit on Africa: African Artists, Washington Convention Center, Washington, DC
2000 Group exhibition, The National Summit on Africa: African Artists, World Bank Group,
Washington, DC
2000 The 69th Annual Art Students Exhibition, Gallery of Art, Howard University, Washington, DC
2000 An International Art Exhibition, Progress of The World's Women, United Nations, New York, NY
2002 Group exhibition, Colors of Africa, University of New England, Portland, Maine
2003 Group exhibition, Colors of Africa, Winston Salem State University, Winston Salem, North Carolina
2004 Group exhibition, Out of Bounds: Women Artists from Africa, University of New England, Portland, Maine