Ethiopia's political history is complex and has been shaped by monarchies and military dictatorships. Take a tour through Addis Ababa with photographer Nafkot Gebeyehu, who captures the city's spirit in her photos.
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00:01Hello and welcome. My name is Nafq Otkabeyo. I'm a photographer and we are here in Addis
00:05Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa is called the political capital of Africa
00:12because it is home to the African Union. It is a modern city with bustling streets and
00:24a rich nightlife. Addis Ababa means new flower. And here we have the beautiful Bole Medhanelum
00:34church. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church is one of the oldest Christian bodies in the world
00:39and it has influenced the visual culture of Addis. As a photographer, my friends and I
00:51are the new generation of artists. We are embracing technology while still paying homage to the
00:57more traditional artists who have gone before us. Now I'm going to show you some of the talented
01:04artists here in Addis. Let's go. We visit the studio of painter Selomi Mouleta. In Ethiopia,
01:13only one third of women are employed. Homes are female spaces and Selomi Mouleta focuses
01:20her work on the inner lives of women.
01:26What do you want the audience to see when they see your painting? How do you want the
01:30audience to interact with it? When I look at my work, I see myself. You would also see yourself
01:38in my painting. And when you do, you have moments of memory which your mind refers to. So I want
01:47everyone to see themselves when they see my work. In your paintings, I've noticed, especially when
01:54you're painting women, their faces are either blurred or cropped. Why do you choose to do that?
01:59When I do a portrait, it is the face or the hand that I paint. I only focus on the part that I want to.
02:07I don't, as in photographs, worry about getting the eye right, fullness of the picture, proportion,
02:13and all that. Who are these women? Every woman. For example, if I do your portrait, I don't capture you
02:21in a literal way. I love what you said about you emphasize on a certain aspect of the portraits
02:27that you paint. It would be an honor to be sketched by you.
02:31Okay, I'm really, really curious. I want to see what you did.
02:38A different napcot. Wow! Weren't you able to see it from there?
02:45No, I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell what was happening.
02:48Okay, I'm really, really curious. I want to see what you did.
02:53A different napcot. Wow!
02:59A different napcot. Wow! Weren't you able to see it from there?
03:06No, I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell what was happening. Wow! It's me, but it's not me.
03:11You know what I mean? This is so cool. Can I keep it? Yes!
03:17Let me sign it. She's got to sign it first.
03:20As a photographer, I'm drawn to the energy of my city.
03:29Addis is always new. You turn around in one corner, there's something happening, and it catches your eye.
03:37The skyline of Addis is dominated by construction cranes as people flock from the ruler areas to find work.
03:44During the scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was one of the only two African countries to retain its independence.
03:50Its political history is complex and multifaceted, marked by periods of monarchy, military dictatorship, and our painful legacy also includes genocide, famine, and civil war.
04:07In recent times, we are trying to heal this through democratic dialogue.
04:12I want to play my part in creating a new Addis, and for me, that is about telling stories of my city.
04:21So you're here at my studio, and as you can see here, some of my prints are hanging.
04:27These are some shots from the busiest marketplace in Addis. It's called Mercato. It's really hectic. It's really hard to take pictures, but that's one of my favorite places to shoot.
04:40And I love learning about people's stories. One of my favorite projects is this book, Vintage Addis Ababa.
04:50We worked on this project for about three years with my colleagues, Philip Schutz and Wenge Ladbebe.
04:55With the Vintage Addis Ababa project, my colleagues and I crowdsourced photographs from ordinary people who had great stories to tell from living memory.
05:05These were personal stories of hope, resilience, laughter, pride, and curiosity.
05:10And it's been such an honor working on it because I got to learn a lot of stories of people that lived in the era that was considered dark in history.
05:25Because all we knew was people were fleeing the country and dying of hunger and genocide was happening.
05:32But through this book I got to learn the history of my people who were enjoying life, going to cinema, getting married, having children, falling in love, all these beautiful things.
05:44And it was such an honor to be a part of it because it felt like I did something to my community.
05:50We all felt like we did something to give back.