Happening Africa
The World is 9’: Aida Muluneh’s new photographic series at David Krut Projects
By Isabel Wilcox
March 31, 2016
Conceptual photography from Ethiopia :
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.
By choosing this title Muluneh is referencing a saying she heard from her grandmother:
“ The world is 9, it is never complete and it’s never perfect.”
In line with her last body of work this new series is increasingly conceptual and abstract. Black and white photography has given way to vibrant and mostly primary saturated colors boldly juxtaposed which adds an abstract quality to the image. This is an exciting development and shows Muluneh’s increasing confidence in her ability to deal with vibrant color in her work.
Light is uncompromising. Muluneh has stepped away from her early documentary work to embrace fully the constructed image. Time and place are overtly fictional and the female body, most of the time swathed in colorful fabric, functions now as metaphor.
Painted white or blue skin is rarely seen in its original color. The same thing happens to the face, which is treated like a mask. It is either painted in two colors or in one tone but divided with a dotted line in the middle. Here Muluneh borrows from an Ethiopian tribal tradition of body painting to point to people tendencies of not revealing their true self in order to forge forward. I think also of internal conflicts. Finally by altering the color of the skin at will, Muluneh challenges the viewer’s preconceptions and need to categorize. Here skin, no longer a signifier of race, has become canvas, a site for artistic expression.
“Each image is an exploration of questions about life, love, and history. I am not seeking answers but asking, hopefully provocative, questions about the life that we live – as people, as nations, as beings. I have chosen to continue working on body painting, which is inspired by the traditional body art from across Africa. Each piece is a reflection of both conscious and sub-conscious manifestations of time and space.”
Aida Muluneh
Muluneh is the founder and director of the first international photography festival in Ethiopia, the Addis Foto Fest, as well as Fana Wogi a yearly open call supporting contemporary artists in Ethiopia. Aida continues to curate and develop cultural projects with local and international institutions through her company DESTA (Developing and Educating Society Through Art) For Africa Creative Consulting PLC (DFA) in Addis Ababa.