Eve, Mannequins, and the Middle Child—Stories of Identity in Paint

By Abraham Tekle and Addis Getachew

In an exhibition steeped in the scent of paint and the quiet hum of creativity, two Ethiopian women artists redefine womanhood—not as a monolith but as a vast, multifaceted spectrum. Their work is both a declaration and a defiance, embodying feminism not only in subject but also in practice. Through bold brushstrokes, they carve out a space where unity amplifies their voices beyond individual artistry, challenging conventional narratives and asserting their presence in the art world.

This year’s International Women’s Day in Addis Ababa was marked not with speeches but with color, texture, and emotion. The month-long exhibition, titled “Questioned and Assured Existence,” ran from February 17 to March 17 at the Gebre-Kristos Desta Modern Art Museum, housed within Addis Ababa University’s (AAU) Faculty of Business and Economics. The showcase featured 30 canvases by two Ethiopian artists, Fetlework Tadesse and Tiemar Tegene, who used their work to engage audiences in a visual discourse on femininity, resilience, and identity.

Their paintings, distinct yet intertwined, dissect the complexities of womanhood in a patriarchal society. Through their art, they provoke reflection, unearthing the struggles, joys, and contradictions of being a woman.

Fetlework, 36, a painter from Addis Ababa, began her artistic journey with a diploma in sculpture from Entoto Technical and Vocational Education Training College in 2012 before earning a degree in painting from Ale School of Fine Arts and Design at AAU in 2020. A mother of three, she employs semi-realistic brushstrokes to translate everyday life into evocative narratives. Her self-portraits, intimate and contemplative, offer glimpses into the emotions and realities of urban Ethiopian womanhood.

Throughout her career, Fetlework has navigated group exhibitions, each marking a new phase in her artistic evolution. In 2024, she debuted her first solo exhibition, “Living Dummies,” at Fendika Cultural Center in the capital. Later that year, she reached international audiences at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair, in South Africa. By February 2025, her work was featured in “New Visions” at Circles Art Gallery in Nairobi, Kenya, further cementing her influence in contemporary African art.

Tiemar, also from Addis, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the Ale School of Fine Arts and Design. Printmaking is her language of choice, a medium through which she merges traditional etching techniques with household textures to create monoprints that blur the line between abstraction and narrative. Her works have adorned the walls of the National Museum of Ethiopia, Alliance Ethio-Française, and the Gebre-Kristos Desta Center. Beyond Ethiopia, her pieces have also reached audiences at the Circle Art Gallery, the Cape Town Art Fair, and other international platforms.

Tiemar experiments with ink and colored pencils, crafting limited-edition prints that act as emotional maps—layered, textured, and deeply personal. Her compositions engage with memory and perception, drawing the viewer into an intimate dialogue with her artistic world.

At the Gebre-Kristos Desta Museum exhibition, Fetlework’s 15 canvases depicted women in socially demanding roles, challenging cultural myths and gender norms. Her paintings offer a piercing critique of the expectations placed on women while simultaneously reflecting on her own experiences within Ethiopia’s urban social landscape. Everyday figures and scenes take on new weight, pushing audiences to reconsider the narratives they have inherited.

Tiemar’s 15 canvases, in contrast, turn inward. Her monoprint charcoals on white canvas capture fluctuating mental states, transient emotions, and the passage of time. Each piece is a singular creation, unrepeatable and deeply introspective. While both artists interrogate femininity, their approaches diverge—one looking outward at society, the other peering into the self.

Ahead of the exhibition, Fetlework offered a glimpse into its genesis via Instagram. “Questioned and Assured Existence” was not born from a grand plan, she explained, but from a year of creative exploration and residency—an organic collaboration that grew out of shared experiences and artistic synchronicity.

Yet, beyond the exhibition, Fetlework continues to wrestle with deeper questions about the burden’s society places upon women. “Ever since I was a little girl, the biblical story of Eve fascinated me,” she told The Reporter. “As I grew older, I began to question the negative interpretations ascribed to femininity. Why are these perceptions so deeply embedded? And why do they persist? These narratives give society the pretext to undermine women, and I refuse to accept that.”

In her painting “Eve and Me,” Fetlework confronts the origins of deprecating attitudes toward women. A woman stretches her arms toward an apple—not to reenact the biblical story but to question its translation and the biases that have endured through time. Her work does not challenge the scripture itself but rather the way its interpretation has shaped societal perceptions of femininity. Similarly, in “I Miss Me,” she invites viewers into moments of nostalgia, reflecting on the fleeting nature of time.

Her pieces “The Gate Keeper,” “Shallow,” and “Beacon” diverge from her introspective works, focusing instead on the struggles of women in a rapidly changing society. These paintings depict laborers at a demolition site, women reeling under the weight of “Kato”—a reference to oppressive forces—wrapped in bandages and crushed beneath iron wheels, their silent suffering ignored by a world that moves on without them. Through these canvases, Fetlework exposes the paradox of development, where progress often comes at the cost of displacement and destruction, with women bearing the heaviest burdens.

Another recurring motif in her work is “The Mannequin,” a symbol of how consumerism and fashion culture reduce women to objects of display. “The concept of mannequins revolves around questions of existence and reality,” she explains. “Where do globally dominant ideas originate? Who generates them and dictates the rules? What is the extent of their power?” Her art interrogates the origins of political ideologies, religious doctrines, and fashion trends—institutions that shape collective consciousness. She suggests that these external influences create an illusion of choice while dictating the course of history and human behavior.

“The mannequin is a product of dominance; it exists more prominently than the ideas conceived by individuals themselves,” she reflects. “Ideas fabricated by a select few are imposed on the masses, depriving them of their own selfhood. People become reflections of external ideologies, much like mannequins—mere props in a carefully orchestrated narrative.”

In stark contrast, Tiemar’s work embodies a quiet confidence, a self-assured existence. Her black-and-white monotypes, created with charcoal on white canvas, reject color as embellishment, instead favoring raw emotion and depth. As an expressionist, she employs this difficult-to-replicate style to explore her inner world, offering viewers a glimpse into her emotional and psychological landscapes.

Her introspections take form in works such as “Mask Off,” where a woman ruffles her hair in a moment of self-awareness and awakening. In “Tears of a Middle Child,” she portrays a pensive figure lying on her back, surrounded by a backdrop of winding paths that disappear into unknown horizons—perhaps a metaphor for life’s uncertainties and unspoken burdens.

Bekele Mekonnen, associate professor at the Ale School of Fine Arts and Director of the Gebre-Kristos Desta Modern Art Museum, underscores the distinct yet complementary artistic approaches of the two creators. “Both artists explore femininity, shedding light on the burdens and struggles women face in society,” he told The Reporter. “Fetlework goes beyond celebrating the beauty of womanhood; she forces us to confront its complexities, its constraints, and its contradictions.”

Bekele notes that while Fetlework’s work challenges societal norms, it remains deeply rooted in cultural identity, sparking conversations that bridge individual and collective experiences. “Her art invites viewers to engage with its layered meanings, balancing social critique with personal storytelling.”

On Tiemar’s approach, Bekele highlights her ability to translate raw emotion into abstract representation. “Tiemar’s images emerge from deep within her psyche,” he explains. “Her works, such as ‘They Feasted, We Sacrificed’ and ‘Tinsa’e’ (Resurrection), prompt deeply personal interpretations while evoking universal human experiences.”

Fetlework and Tiemar, though distinct in style, converge in their exploration of womanhood—one through bold, unflinching social commentary, the other through introspective, emotional abstraction. Together, their work amplifies the silenced struggles and quiet triumphs of women, proving that femininity is not a single story but a mosaic of resilience, vulnerability, and unyielding presence. Their art is not just an exhibition—it is a statement, a reclamation of identity.