2019
Aida Muluneh’s Somerset House photography series
City Matters | September 12, 2019
Internationally acclaimed Ethiopian artist Aida Muluneh is showcasing her extraordinary ‘Water Life’ series at Somerset House, London, from 24 September, inspired by the impact of dirty water on women’s lives and futures. The new display, which runs until 20 October, features 12 pieces commissioned by WaterAid with support from the H&M Foundation, and was shot in the extreme landscape of one of the hottest and driest places on earth, Dallol, Afar, in Northern Ethiopia. Read More..
Water Life
Aesthetica Magazine | September 9, 2019
Around the world, 785 million people live without clean water close to home. In Ethiopia, almost four in ten individuals have no access. Internationally acclaimed artist Aida Muluneh (b. 1974) responds to this urgent issue in Water Life, a series of 12 Afrofuturist photographs on view at Somerset House, London. The works – commissioned by WaterAid with support from the H&M Foundation – engage with the experiences of women and girls, many of whom travel daily on foot carrying heavy burdens of water. Read more..
Ethiopian photographer spotlights impact of water scarcity on women
Thomson Reuters Foundation News | September 24, 2019
In Ethiopia, almost four in 10 people do not have access to clean water and a child dies every hour of diseases caused by the shortages. Read more..
Ethiopian Photographer Spotlights Impact of Water Scarcity on Women
Voice Of America | September 25, 2019
NAIROBI - A collection of striking photographs set in the arid landscapes of northern Ethiopia aims to spotlight the harsh reality of water scarcity and how it impacts the lives of women across Africa, said artist Aida Muluneh.Muluneh's "Water Life" series - depicting turbaned, painted women in robes of primary colors of blue, yellow and red, posing in the desert - went on show in London on Tuesday, commissioned by the charity WaterAid. Read more..
Watch this phenomenal film about the hottest place on Earth
Dazed | October 4, 2019
Ethiopian photographer AïdaMuluneh’s work pops with arresting colours and monochromes; symbolic figures and everyday totems set in otherworldly landscapes. Strong female characters take centre stage, often staring down the lens, draped in lush fabrics and covered in paint washes. Read more..
Nine Photographers Changing the Way We See Africa and Its Diaspora
AnOther| October 3, 2019
As the fair celebrating African artists working today opens in London, we spotlight some photographers taking part in this year’s show. Read more..
Ethiopian Artist Aida Muluneh's 'Water Life' Is a Response to the Urgent Threat of Water Scarcity
OkayAfrica | September 5, 2019
The Ethiopian artist Aida Muluneh will bring her highly-acclaimed photo series "Water Life" to London's Somerset House this September, as part of the creative institution's "ongoing strand of environmental programming." The highly-acclaimed series addresses water scarcity—particularly its grave impact on the wellbeing of women and girls. Read more..
These four women are changing the face of modern African art
i-D | October 9, 2019
Whether in fashion, music, or contemporary art, interest in work by creatives based on, or hailing from, the African continent has never been greater. But while the interest may be there, there are still relatively few formal platforms dedicated to showcasing Africa’s artistic output. Where contemporary art is concerned in particular, major fairs disproportionately spotlight galleries and artists based in, or with easy access to, more traditional art centres. Read more..
Aida Muluneh: when water is a struggle for women
Le Point | October 5, 2019
In London's historic Somerset House, where the seventh edition of the 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair is held until October 6, the glowing yellow basement walls host Aida Muluneh's Water life exhibition. The photos of this artist and cultural entrepreneur were taken in Dallo in her native Ethiopia. It is the hottest city in the world: it is on average 45 degrees. Read more..
The National Museum of African Art has doubled its holdings of art by women. This show puts their work in the spotlight
The Washington Post | July 18, 2019
About five years ago, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art determined that only 11 percent of the artists with works in its collection — those identified by name, as opposed to anonymous traditional artisans — were women. Read more..
Striking exhibition from Afrofuturist photographer Aida Muluneh on impact of unclean water on women
Water Aid | June 6, 2019
Internationally acclaimed Ethiopian artist Aida Muluneh launched her extraordinary ‘Water Life’ photography exhibition in Vancouver this week, which takes as its inspiration the impact of water or the lack of it on women’s lives, development and futures. Read more..
The Hollywood Reporter From Ai Weiwei to Claude Monet, Oscar-Nominated Production Designers Reveal Artistic Inspirations
The Hollywood Reporter | February 15, 2019
As the sun rises on London at the top of Mary Poppins Returns, the fog parts to reveal the outlines of two iconic buildings: Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, cloaked in muted purples, greys and oranges. Both discerning art-history majors and casual onetime visitors to The Met might note the direct homage to Monet's famous series "Houses of Parliament." But in other moments in Rob Marshall's film, the artistic hat-tips aren't so clear, including scenes of London in the rain that reference French photographer Brassaï, and an opening-credits homage to Peter Ellenshaw. Read more..
Powerful Afrofuturist photography by Aida Muluneh shows the impact of dirty water on women’s lives
Creative Boom | August 29, 2019
Acclaimed Ethiopian artist Aida Muluneh is showcasing her extraordinary Water Life series at London's Somerset House next month, inspired by the impact of dirty water on women’s lives and futures. Read more..
How This Ethiopian Photographer Is Giving Storytellers a New Platform
Time | February 7, 2019
When TIME approached photographer Aida Muluneh to create images for the 2019 Optimists issue, she immediately turned to Ethiopia’s political climate for inspiration. A new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, had assumed office in April 2018 and started implementing a series of reforms. “He instilled a different energy that was needed in our country,” Muluneh says. “There were a lot of changes that incited optimism for many of us.” Read more..
Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art is Showcasing Women Artists, a Group Vastly Underrepresented in its Collectio
Culture Type | August 11, 2019
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN ART is celebrating women artists. Over the past five years, the Smithsonian museum has doubled its holdings of art by women. Showcasing some of the recent acquisitions, “I Am… Contemporary Women Artists of Africa,” opened in June. The exhibition includes works by NjidekaAkunyili Crosby, Sokari Douglas Camp, Nike Davies-Okundaye, Zanele Muholi, Toyin OjihOdutola, Wangechi and Billie Zangewa, among others. Drawn from the museum’s permanent collection, the show features 30 works by 28 modern and contemporary women artists, spanning three generations. Read more..
The Photographer Fighting Visual Clichés of Africa
The Atlantic | June, 2019
In the spring of 2016, the photographer AïdaMuluneh opened a solo exhibition at the David Krut Projects gallery in New York City. The showcase came nine years after Muluneh had returned to her native Ethiopia, which she’d left as a young child in the 1980s, during the height of the country’s punishing Marxist regime. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a series of photographs called The World Is 9, which drew its name from a saying of her grandmother’s: “The world is 9, it is never complete and it’s never perfect.” For an artist whose identity is wrapped up in her delayed repatriation, the impossibility of closure—in the lives of people and nations—has proved to be a powerful theme. Read more..
One of the 24 magazine covers for climate change
The Washington Magazine | 2019
We know that the clock is ticking on climate change, yet the sheer volume of news can make it tough for even the most conscientious citizen to comprehend the full scale of the crisis. Read more..
The future of water, Africa and women in the feminine spirit of Aida Muluneh's art
Elle | May 26, 2019
The memory of water, the future of Africa and the emancipation of its feminine spirit, arrive on display with the art of Aida Muluneh, from New York to London, passing through the Women Deliver in Vancouver. Read more..
Aida Muluneh: Changing the narrative on Ethiopia, one photo at a tim
CNN World | January, 2019
When you look at Aida Muluneh's work, it's clear where her passion lies: Ethiopia. The photographer has been telling the story of Ethiopia long before it started trending this year. The country has undergone tremendous change in 2018, most of which stems from the election of its new 41-year-old Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, one of the most progressive leaders in the country's history. Read more..
2018
Aida Muluneh
The Wall International | June 28, 2018
Artists Statement: My main goal in building this collection is to address the issues caused by a lack of access to water, and the impact which that has not only on a society as a whole, but on women, particularly in rural regions. For those of us who live in cities, it’s easy to take for granted the privilege of access to water - while those living beyond the city grid often encounter challenges that not only impact their health, but also their ability to contribute to the development of their communities. Read more..
“A hundred photographic heroines”
British Journal Of Photography | December 14, 2018
What do Sophie Calle, Rineke Dijkstra, Susan Meiselas, and Hannah Starkey all have in common? They’re all on the list of 100 contemporary women photographers picked out by the UK’s Royal Photographic Society, after an open call for nominations. Over 1300 photographers were recommended to the organisation by the general public, which was slimmed down by a judging panel headed up by photographer Rut Blees Luxemburg. Read more..
“Addis Foto Fest: ‘I’m trying to get African photographers into the international market’”
The Washington Post | December 7, 2018
Award-winning photographer AïdaMuluneh left Ethiopia for Yemen as a child, then moving to England, Cyprus, Canada and eventually the United States, where she worked at The Washington Post. The journey taught her many things, including the importance of mentors. Read more..
In Ethiopia, Visual Storytelling From a Deeper Perspective
The New York Times Lens | December 6, 2018
Addis Foto Fest, founded by photographer Aida Muluneh, aims to give photographers from Africa a platform to capture the cultural complexities and diverse histories of the countries they call home. Read more..
To upend perceptions of race, this artist explores face-painting traditions and masks
The Washington | March 26, 2018
My journey began in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the midst of a revolution that overthrew a 2,000-year-old monarchy and eventually led many of us into an exodus of uncertainty. My mother was 17 when she had me, and she was passionate about music and the arts, a rarity in an Ethiopian society deeply embedded in tradition. I spent most of my life in transition, an immigrant who never belonged to a place, never quite fitting into my surroundings. We moved often — Yemen, England, Cyprus and Canada — the one consistent element being my mother’s pride in Ethiopia. My nomadic life was shaped by her stories about our homeland and her childhood. I am the daughter of a dreamer who always sought to give me a better, richer life experience. Read more..
Africa uncovered: an interview with Aida Muluneh
Global Voices | November 8, 2018
t’s almost impossible to have a comprehensive discussion about the African art scene and not mention Aida Muluneh. At the age of 44, her photos have already captured the hearts and minds of the international art world and appeared on the walls of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) as well as in several presitigious publications Read more..
These Stunning Photos Celebrate the Beauty and Power of Ethiopia
Vice | September 28, 2018
Women are overlooked far too often in photography. How can we continue to combat this erasure? My answer is this column, “Woman Seeing Woman.” While it’s just the start of solving this problem, I, a female writer and photographer, hope to celebrate the astoundingly powerful female voices we have in photography by offering a glimpse into their work. Read more..
Badass women photographers you should be following
CNN World | December 18, 2018
Fragments by Aida Muluneh who is an Ethiopian photographer working in photojournalism and commercial art projects. Muluneh's work has been featured in several exhibitions worldwide. Her photographs are striking and are usually characterized by intense use of bright colors.
Brave and Beautiful
Canadianart | April 27, 2018
Experience three contemporary art installations that are as beautiful as they are thought-provoking. Read more..
“Ethiopian Artist Aida Muluneh Directs FatoumataDiawara’s Music Video”
Tadias Magazine | August 7, 2018
Ethiopian artist and photographer Aida Muluneh - whose work was recently part of the "Being: New Photography 2018" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) in new york - recently collaborated with acclaimed Malian singer Fatoumata Diawara on her new album. Read more..
We All Wear The Mask: New Photographic at The Museum of Modern Art
ArtNews | April 2, 2018
It has been two years since the last edition of the Museum of Modern Art’s New Photography series. The current one is on view through August 19. Titled “Being,” it asks: “How can photography capture what it means to be human?” With a camera, probably. But the real focus of the show is representation: how people represent themselves with and against the images preselected for them by media and society; how photography is and isn’t a representation of life; how certain photographic processes can function as metaphors for selfhood. Seventeen artists from around the world were selected by curator Lucy Gallun to highlight the pliability of photography’s answers to these questions. Read more..
Canon Europe Adds 17 New Ambassador
Photography Blog | June 28, 2018
Canon Europe has announced 17 new professional photographers and filmmakers to its acclaimed Ambassador Programme to mark 10 years since its inception. Read more..
Ethiopian artist explores hope through a camera lens
The Exponent | February 28, 2018
The solemn-eyed models and rich blues, yellows and reds of Aida Muluneh’s photos pop out of the brick walls of the Fountain Gallery, sandwiched in the historic 141-year-old Perrin Building in downtown Lafayette. Read more..
African women, the future of photography
LesEchos | February 23, 2018
Aïda Muluneh and Zanele Muholi. Two powerful women who are the African figureheads of free, engaged and furiously creative contemporary photography. These two luminous black artists are exhibiting in New York and Zurich. Read more..
Ethiopian Photographer Aida Muluneh’s Body Painting Pictures Will Stop You In Your Tracks
W Magazine | March 24, 2018
Aida Muluneh’s photographs are showstoppers—quite literally. Combining the shocks of color and crisp geometries of abstract painters like Frank Stella and the disturbing micro-thrills of Man Ray‘s fashion pictures (see: the mysterious extra pair of hands in slide 2, or the unlikely angle and skin color of the model’s reflection in slide 4) with the body painting, materials, and traditions of her native Africa, Muluneh’s pictures are designed to short-circuit your eye. Read more..
2017
Coloured skin: the body art of Aida Muluneh – in pictures
The Guardian | February 21, 2017
Ethiopian photographer Aida Muluneh returned to her homeland to cut through the cliches of ‘animals, war, and famine’ with ultra-colourful images. Read more..
Aida Muluneh: From Ethiopia to Canada and Back Again
Canadianart | January 19, 2017
Aida Muluneh is a photographer with a world-spanning practice and reputation. In 2016 alone, she had shows in New York and Johannesburg, continued to run the biennial Addis Foto Fest (which she founded in 2010), did a TEDx talk, and extended her photojournalistic and artistic practices. Her artwork is in the collection of the Smithsonian, she has won an award from the European Union, and she has spoken at Art Basel and at New York’s ICI, all while her photojournalism has been published by outlets like the Washington Post. Read more..
Seeing migration in a new light
Gulf News | September 9, 2017
Aida Muluneh, The Amusement at the Gate, 2017
Photographer Aida Muluneh’s first solo show in Dubai, The Memory of Hope, expresses her feelings, both as an African and as a woman about the increasing racism and intolerance in contemporary society, and the impact of capitalism on developing countries. Through her colourful cinematic compositions the artist makes strong statements about the socio-political issues and injustices that have made her question her belief in what is right and wrong, reducing the optimism of her youth to a distant memory of hope. Read more..
The problem with photojournalism and Africa
Aljazeera | January 18, 2017
Whenever “Africa” is in the headline of mainstream US and European media sources, especially those that are highly regarded, I wince. I know the storyline is going to suffused by disappointment and resignation about Africa failing, once again. Read more..
Aida Muluneh to give ‘Photography in Ethiopia
Egypt Today | December 6, 2017
CAIRO – 6 December 2017: Ethiopian photographer Aida Muluneh will give a talk at Darb 1718 on Wednesday, December 27, about her career and her ultimate goal in helping to change the global view of Africa. Read more..
“#Okay100Women”
Okay Africa | March 6, 2017
OkayAfrica's 100 Women celebrates African women who are making waves, shattering ceilings, and uplifting their communities. Aida Muluneh is a photographer and filmmaker of Ethiopian descent. She was born in Addis Ababa but grew up in Yemen, England, Cyprus and Canada before landing in the U.S. for her undergraduate studies. Read more..
La Gacilly Photo: African Time
MujerJoy | July 23, 2017
This small town in French Brittany will be filled with evocative and surreal African images. It is the magic of photography, which takes us on a journey at the La Gacilly Festival.
This small town in French Brittany will be filled with evocative and surreal African images. It is the magic of photography, which takes us on a journey at the La Gacilly Festival. Read more..
2016
Aida Muluneh: The World is 9
C& (Contemporary And) | March 3, 2016
Aïda Muluneh’s ‘The World is 9’, consists of a selection of images from a brand new series of photographic works in which Muluneh questions life, love, history, and whether we can live in this world with full contentment. Read more..
Nine Women Killing It in the Art World
Art Zealous | May 17, 2016
As anyone working in the arts knows too well, nothings come easy for people with new ideas. This is especially true for women trying to get their ideas out in the art world. It’s a known fact that the visual arts have a discouraging lack of female presence. Pussy Galore’s 2015 update to Guerilla Girl’s 1986 “Report Card” reported that a majority of Chelsea galleries still have artist rosters largely favoring men. Major institutions, including MoMA, have a long history of gender inequality— in between 2008 and 2015 only one woman, Ann Temkin, stood as a department head. Read more..
Color Saturated Portraits Explore an Ethiopian Expat's Return Home
Vice | April 16, 2016
Photographer Aida Muluneh was born in Ethiopia, but had a global upbringing that found her living in England, Cyprus, and the US. She’s spent the last nine years living and working in Addis Ababa, and it’s from these reflections on returning to her homeland and a saying by the artist’s grandmother that her latest solo show, The World is 9, takes its title. "Living in Addis Ababa for the past nine years has been a lesson; a lesson in humility, and a lesson in what it means to return to a land that was foreign to me,” writes Muluneh in a short essay about the exhibit. "Over the past nine years, an expression of my grandmother has stuck in my mind—she would say, ‘The world is 9, it is never complete and it’s never perfect.’” Read more..
Exhibition "The Iris of Lucy": the African woman in the spotlight
Le Mode | August 1, 2016
What is the most under-represented genre in contemporary art? The women. Which continent escapes the radar of the curators? Africa. It is on the strength of this observation that the departmental museum of contemporary art in Rochechouart has programmed “The Iris of Lucy”, an exhibition presenting some twenty female artists from the African continent and its diaspora. Read more..
FORGETFUL STILL
GUP Magazine | September 28, 2016
In 1839, the Parisian businessman Louis Daguerre published a manual that explained how to imprint light on a coated copper plate. He wasn’t the first to discover a means of ‘writing with light’, but his manual caused a rapid spread of photography around the world. In View From Inside, a book of contemporary Arab photography, Wendy Watriss explains how, within a year, the Daguerreotype had reached almost all major port cities, and photo studios had opened worldwide. Unlike poetry, music and painting, which had long traditions within local and national cultures, the new technique of writing with light began to be executed in very similar ways in countless cultures the world over. “Photography,” Watriss writes, “was a globalized medium from the start.” Read more..
Aida, the desire for the future
24 ORE | November 6, 2016
If the queen of Sheba, the legendary founder of Ethiopia, were looking for an heir worthy of her fame, a woman capable of representing today the tensions of a nerve-center country in the balance of Africa and Europe itself, she should do nothing else. than reaching Addis Ababa, approaching the Sidist Kilo neighborhood, crossing Yekatit 12 square, dedicated to the victims of the reprisal for the attack on General Graziani during the fascist occupation, then passing in front of the University and finally climbing the stairs of the International Leadership Building Institute. And here, enjoying one of the nine daily cups of coffee provided by tradition and religiously divided into three tastings, a tribute to the Trinity, he would meet Aida Muluneh, 42, an extraordinary photographer, prize for theRencontres africaines de la photographie from Bamako and founder of one of the most vital organizations on the Ethiopian art scene, the Desta, Developing and Educating Society Through Art, where awakens in the Amharic language means "happiness". And it all starts from here. Read more..
The World is 9’: Aida Muluneh’s new photographic series at David Krut Projects
Happening Africa | March 31, 2016
Aida Muluneh’s new body of photographs “The World is 9” shown at David Krut Projects in New York City is bold, enigmatic, highly personal and imaginative, and infused with theatricality. Read more..
14 Mind-Blowing Images From Aida Muluneh's Solo Exhibition
Okay Africa | March 25, 2016
Living in Addis Ababa for the past nine years has been eye-opening for Aida Muluneh. “A lesson in humility, and a lesson in what it means to return to a land that was foreign to me,” the Ethiopian visual artist and photographer writes. Read more..
I Want to Make Africa Digestible in a Different Way’: Aida Muluneh on Her Show at David Krut Projects
ARTnews | March 28, 2016
Ethiopian photographer Aida Muluneh has lived the majority of her life in the Northern Hemisphere. Having left Ethiopia at a young age, Muluneh spent her early years bouncing between Yemen, England, and Cyprus before moving to Canada and later the United States, where she took up a position as a photojournalist for the Washington Post. Muluneh developed her skills as a documentary photographer at the Post, but found herself gravitating toward a more artistic mode of expression as she simultaneously nurtured a growing desire to reconnect with the land of her birth. Read more..
Exploring Aida Muluneh’s Surreal Photographs
Hi Fructose | April 19, 2016
Photographer Aida Muluneh has lived all over the world, but it was in returning to Ethiopia that she found inspiration for her latest body of work. Muluneh’s first solo exhibition for David Kruts Projects in New York City was titled “The World is 9,” and it featured new images from the artist. The title comes from something the artist’s grandmother used to say: “The world is 9. It is never complete and never perfect.” Read more..
The World's Largest Contemporary African Art Fair Returns to Brooklyn
Vice | May 7, 2016
This Frieze week, the 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair is back. 1:54 launched in 2013 in London by Touria El Glaoui, having made its debut New York last year, and features both works by established and emerging artists. The galleries present works by artists connected to one of the 54 countries on the continent. This year 1:54 takes place again at artist Dustin Yellin’s Pioneer Works, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. The invitation-only fair features over 100 works from 64 artists representing 27 countries from the continent and diaspora. 1:54 also includes programing that seeks to fully contextualize the latest in contemporary African art right now. Read more..
30 Emerging Artists to Watch This Spring
Artsy | April 12, 2016
With the spring art season comes a slew of gallery exhibitions, museum shows, and art fairs brimming with the latest crop of young artists. In preparation, we consulted hundreds of galleries and sifted through thousands of artworks to uncover the 30 most promising up-and-coming artists across the globe. Read more..
Aida Muluneh’s First Solo Exhibition at David Krut Projects
Tadias Magazine | March 2, 2016
Around the world, 785 million people live without clean water close to home. In Ethiopia, almost four in ten individuals have no access. Internationally acclaimed artist Aida Muluneh (b. 1974) responds to this urgent issue in Water Life, a series of 12 Afrofuturist photographs on view at Somerset House, London. The works – commissioned by WaterAid with support from the H&M Foundation – engage with the experiences of women and girls, many of whom travel daily on foot carrying heavy burdens of water. Read more..
2015
Africa lit at the Palais de Chaillot
Le Mode | November 24, 2015
The “Lights of Africa” exhibition has set itself the challenge of hosting original works by artists from the 54 countries of the continent on the theme of light. Read more..
12 Contemporary African Artists You Should Know
Huffpost | August 25, 2015
“Folks can’t seem to come to terms with the fact that African artists have now taken and secured their seat at the dinner table, invited or not!”
Art historian Chika Okeke-Agulu‘s provocative quote is featured proudly in the catalog for “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner,” a group show that recently closed at Richard Taittinger Gallery in New York City. The exhibition, curated by Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, celebrated 12 contemporary artists from Africa who have carved out success in the often too-exclusive world of mainstream art. Read more..
Aida Muluneh Interprets Dante’s Inferno
PDN Photo Of The Day | October 1, 2015
Aida Muluneh is a photographer, an activist, a businesswoman, and a mother. Born in Ethiopia, she spent her childhood between Yemen, England and Cyprus. In 1985 she settled in Canada, and in 2000 she graduated from Washington D.C.’s Howard University. An anticipated three-month visit to Ethiopia in 2007 extended to the present, and during that time Muluneh set two goals: to use photography to change the way the world perceives Ethiopia, and to shape and inspire a community of Ethiopian photographers as they develop their own visual language. As part of that effort, Muluneh founded the Addis Foto Fest, of which she is the current director, and the company Desta for Africa Creative Consulting (DFA). Read more..
Visual Communication for Change
Doppio Zero | September 25, 2015
At the last Dak’Art Biennale in 2014 we met this young woman with a steady determined strong gaze, a confident way to carry herself, with the energy that contaminates you and makes you want to leave everything you are doing and march in the name of her cause. Her name is Aida Muluneh. And she has a most charming smile. A talented photographer, a cultural activist, a business woman, a mother and above all, an amazing human being. Every day in her native Addis Ababa she is doing something very important, gathering a community around her, stimulating young creative talents, inspiring them with her work and brick by brick trying to build a new image of Ethiopia through culture, art and education. Read more..