Kebedech Tekleab (born 1958) is an Ethiopian

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, sculptor, and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

. Tekleab attended the School of Fine Arts in

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

, becoming active in the student resistance movement during the revolution late in the 1970s. Fleeing Ethiopia, she became embroiled in the country's war with

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

, being imprisoned in a

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

for close to a decade. She was released in 1989 and

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

d to join the family in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, receiving her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992 and her Master of Fine Arts in 1995 from

Howard University Howard University is a private, historically black, federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and accredited by the Mid ...

. She produced her ''Punishment Series'' of works as part of her thesis project "''Humanity In Descent: Visual Images Of Human Suffering''". Tekleab has taught at SCAD

Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) is a private art school with locations in Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; and Lacoste, France. It was founded in 1978 to provide degrees in programs not yet offered in the southeast of the United ...

in Savannah, Georgia, and Howard University, in Washington, DC. She is currently teaching at The City University of New York, in New York City. In 2001, Tekleab worked with

Alexander Boghossian Alexander "Skunder" Boghossian (July 22, 1937 – May 4, 2003) was an Ethiopian painter and art teacher. He spent much of his life living and working in the United States. He was one of the first, and by far the most acclaimed, contemporary Bl ...

on a commission called ''Nexus'' for the Wall of Representation at the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington, D.C. The work is an aluminum relief sculpture (365 x 1585 cm) mounted on the granite wall of the embassy. ''Nexus'' includes decorative motifs, patterns and symbols from Ethiopian religious traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other indigenous spiritual practices incorporating symbolic scrolls and forms representing musical instruments, utilitarian tools, and regional flora and fauna. In 2003 Tekleab was among a number of significant Ethiopian artists exhibited in the Smithsonian National museum of African Art's ''Ethiopian Passages'' exhibition in Washington D.C., USA. Other artists included were Aida Muluneh and Elizabeth Atnafu.

References

External links

Kebedech Tekleab: Creating an Ethiopian Narrative in America, Of Note Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tekleab, Kebedech Living people Ethiopian painters Ethiopian poets Howard University alumni Ethiopian women painters Ethiopian women poets 21st-century women artists 1958 births

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Further reading

External links