Assefa Gebrekidan

Assefa Gebrekidan (b. Axum, Ethiopia 1973) lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. His sculptural installations are grounded in graphic composition and drawing from life. His earliest experience of art was in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church in Axum where his father is a priest. Gebrekidan trained in sculpture at the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Art and Design, where he was introduced to Russian constructivist sculpture. Ethiopia had political links with Russia in the late 20th Century. After graduating in 1996, for several years he taught art in the Mekele Fine Art School in the north of the country. In this period he made large temporary sculptures in unfired clay which he arranged and photographed against the sky, before destroying them. Returning to Addis Ababa, he experimented with works incorporating found materials and lights in darkened spaces. His solo exhibition ‘Light and Dark’, took place at Zoma Contemporary Art Centre, Addis Ababa in 2003. In 2004 he exhibited in the Dak’Art Biennial, Dakar, Senegal and Le Lieu Unique, Nantes, France. ‘A Glimmer of Hope’ at Camden Arts Centre is his first international solo exhibition.
Source
https://camdenartcentre.org/file-notes/file-note-06-assefa-gebrekidan?#biography