TSEDAYE MAKONNEN

"The Amharic characters hand-printed on the textiles are a series of poetic prayers that I wrote after reading accounts of the violence against Black women migrating to Europe from Africa and thinking about the fragility of Black lives here in the U.S. Early anti-African and anti-Black colonial structures, as well as the practice in Islamic contexts of thirteen centuries of trafficking and enslaving African women, continue to have political and economic reverberations that shape modern policy. One way I address this continuity is through process and art; another is through the use in my practice of my ancestral tongue. It allows me, as a first-generation Ethiopian American, to literally and metaphorically communicate with my hybrid kinship. This is my attempt to gather elements of language, memory, and ritual into my practice. Since I do not read or write Amharic and speak it loosely with a heavy American accent, my interpretation of the language and these protective sayings are intentionally not translated correctly. In doing so, I am exploring what gets lost in translation when culture migrates to a new world. The prayer in The Soul Is Set Free :: ነፍስን ነፃ ማውጣት reads as follows:

 

The one with a soul (still alive) :: ነፍስ አለው

Come back :: ተመልሰዉ

Be careful :: ተጥንቀቅ

Travel in peace :: በሰላም ተጓዝ

Be blessed :: ተባረክ

The soul is set free :: ነፍስን ነፃ ማውጣት

Textiles with the same screens were on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Africa & Byzantium.

Multi-generational texts include Makonnen, her mother and eldest son has translated the Amharic text into English in his own handwriting. 

The One with a Soul 2024

Triptych | Each Sheet 30 x 22.25 inches | Screenprint | Edition of 10

about

Tsedaye Makonnen is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, researcher and cultural producer. Tsedaye’s practice is driven by Black feminist theory, firsthand site-specific research, and ethical social practice techniques, which become solo and collaborative site sensitive performances, objects, installations, and films. Her studio primarily focuses on intersectional feminism, reproductive health and migration. Tsedaye’s personal history is as a mother, the daughter of Ethiopian refugees, a doula and a sanctuary builder. 

In 2019 Tsedaye was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow and staged two interventions at the Venice Biennale titled ‘ When Drowning is the Best Option feat. Astral Sea I.’ In 2021 her light sculptures were acquired by the Smithsonian for their permanent collection and she published a book titled ‘Black Women as/and the Living Archive’. Tsedaye is the recipient of a permanent large-scale public art commission for the city of Providence. In Fall 2022 she performed at the Venice Biennale for Simone Leigh’s ‘Loophole of Retreat’ and was the Clark Art Institute’s Futures Fellow. In 2023, Tsedaye will be exhibiting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Bard Graduate Center and The Walters Art Museum, where she will also guest curate. She is currently represented by Addis Fine Art. She lives between DC and London with her partner and children.