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Founded by artist Yenatfenta Abate, the ‘Free Art Felega’ project offers a platform for Ethiopian artists from various disciplines internationally to display their work, as well as to discuss, exchange ideas and learn from the experiences of others. (Courtesy photo)
Tadias Magazine
By Tadias staff
Updated: December 12, 2020
NY (TADIAS) – There are positive and optimistic art projects growing amid the challenges of the current COVID-19 era as a much-needed gathering space for Ethiopian artists from around the world. Among them is an online exhibit that was held this week called Free Art Felega 5 Disrupt, hosted by German-based Ethiopian artist Yenatfenta Abate.
“The basic concept is based on the approach to life and work of the participating artists in times of COVID-19 and the reflection of their joint work in the context of the social challenge generated by the changing environment,” the announcement states. “Artists from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and the diaspora are involved with a studio in Berlin, Germany, and Vienna, Austria.” He added: “With Free Art Felega 5 – Disrupt, a virtual platform is being created for the first time, in which artists who collaborated on previous projects work together, discussing their designs and work results and showing them online in a virtual exhibition ”.
Yenatfenta, who now lives and works in Berlin and Hamburg, Germany, graduated from the Ale School of Fine Arts and Design in Ethiopia. He presented the inaugural Free Art Felega exhibition in Ethiopia in 2004 after receiving a grant from the Karl-Heinz Ditze Foundation, having started the project 8 years earlier in 1996 as an artist participating in an exchange program between Germany and Ethiopia. The program eventually expanded into a series in association with the Goethe Institute Addis Ababa, which sponsored the following Free Art Felega exhibitions in Ethiopia. In 2019, Free Art Felega 4 – Identity It was carried out in collaboration with charities in Addis Ababa.
“The aim of the ongoing project is the development of the skills and abilities of Ethiopian artists, especially the ‘liberation’ of applied art in the broad general context of modern visual arts,” says Yenatfenta. “Original artistic training receives special consideration and is developed through the concept of free art. He adds: “In terms of content,” Free Art Felega “guarantees to strengthen the quality of artistic exchange, create artistic identities and allow artists to have a common platform in the long term.
In 2019, Yenatfenta Abate decided to bring the Free Art Felega 4 – Identity group to charities in Addis Ababa. There, the artists helped the elderly, the mentally disabled and children cope with their daily struggles by helping them express their feelings and thoughts through art. (Courtesy photo)
So far, five complex projects of the Free Art Felega series have been carried out. Yenatfenta Abate has executed all the projects in Addis Ababa, in cooperation with institutions such as the Goethe-Institute and the CIM. (Courtesy photo)
(Photo courtesy of Free Art Felega)
The last exhibition, Free Art Felega 5 Disrupt, is an online show that opened via Zoom on December 10 and reflects our contemporary reality, but has also provided an opportunity for a diverse and eclectic group of Ethiopian artists to participate from various parts of the world, including Germany, Ethiopia and the United States. . “I am proud of all the participants and especially of the fact that we used our time intensively during the last months and that we worked together concentrated in those CoVid19 times,” says Yenatfenta, noting that she is working on following the upcoming events.
See: Free Art Felega 5 – Disrupt – Virtual exhibition (2020)
Free Art Felega is a series of projects created by artist Yenatfenta Abate. Yenatfenta Abate developed the concept “Free Art Felega” – the search for free art – from her experience of intercultural work in artistic exchange between Germany and Ethiopia. (Video: Free Art Felega YouTube page)
Felega Free Art 5 includes various artists in two categories: “The Master Group” and the “Identity Group”.
The first one features artists such as Adugna Kassa, Engedaget Legesse, Hailemariam Dendir, Henok Getachew, Leikun Nahusenay, Leykun Girma, Mekasha Haile, Mihret Dawit, Mihret Kebede, Mulugeta Gebrekidan, Ousman Hassen, Seyoum Ayalew, Simnosco Bekeretlefiner Mesihkefiner y Zihkefinkefinerw Workineh.
Participants in the second group include: Alemayehu Bekele, Ananiya Zerihun, Bethelhem Tadele, Birhan Beyene, Brook Yeshitila, Etsubdink Legesse, Fasil Eyasu, Israel Woldemichael, Meron Ermias, Mulu Legesse, Omar Gobe, Selome Getachew, Selomeros Muleta, and Tigirsit Tejirsit Mulugeta.
As Yenatfenta sums it up “:” Art is not limited by its material but by its creator. And if the creator has a free mind with the desire to create something new, anything is possible. “
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You can get more information about the Free Art Felega project at www.freeartfelega.com.
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