Continuity and Change: Three Generations of Ethiopian Artists

Continuity and Change: Three Generations of Ethiopian Artists tells the story of modern and contemporary art in Ethiopia from the 1940s to the present and explores the role Emperor Haile Selassie plays to support artists as part of a purposeful strategy for the modernization of Ethiopia. It also examines the influence of the Addis Ababa Fine Arts School, one of the leading art academies in Africa. In particular, Continuity and Change focuses on those artists who were and are active in Addis Ababa within the context of the political and social upheavals of 20th-century Ethiopia. Artists active in Addis Ababa are still largely unknown outside Ethiopia and a narrow circle of international curators and collectors. Continuity and Change introduces a number of these artists to U.S. audiences for the first time. The catalogue accompanied an exhibition of the same name, which was on display at the Harn Museum of Art from January 23 to April 29, 2007. The exhibition was organized by Harn Museum of Art Director Rebecca Martin Nagy and North Carolina Central University Professor Achamyeleh Debela. This fully illustrated exhibition catalogue includes essays by Achamyeleh Debela, Heran Sereke-Brhan, Shiferaw Bekele, Geta Mekonnen, and Lean Niederstadt and catalogue entries by Rebecca Martin Nagy with the assistance of Jaime Baird and Nicholas Frech.