Starting in January Yeggy’s “Left Behind” installation, along with several paintings, will be featured at the Kennedy Museum of Art as part of a group show called Wax and Gold: Contemporary Artists from the Horn of Africa.
Wax and Gold exhibits for the first time a group of artists from several countries in the Horn of Africa, comprised of Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Djibouti, and Somalia along the Red Sea, who today live in North America and Europe. The title Wax and Gold references a visual and literary device of the same name, originating in the Horn of Africa, that entails decoding obvious and hidden meanings to reveal layers of understanding in the artworks.
The artworks become a means for understanding transnational complexities of diasporas, political unrest in the Horn, and broader experiences of migration.
“Left Behind” is an installation piece that highlights the immigrant and refugee crisis in the Mediterranean, particularly the risks that many refugees must take in their search for a new life. Yeggy believes that “there should be a better way to deal with this crisis.” Rather than presenting an answer to this very complex issue, Yeggy’s work aims to raise awareness, ask questions, and open discussion.
Wax and Gold: Contemporary Artists from the Horn of Africa
Kennedy Museum of Art, Ohio University, Athens, OH
January 22 to May 29, 2016
Guest curated by Andrea Frohne, Ph.D.
Exhibiting Artists:
Dawit Petros (Eritrea/Canada/Brooklyn);
Elsa Gebreyesus (Eritrea/Washington DC);
Salem Mekuria (Ethiopia/Boston);
Yegizaw Michael (Eritrea/Seattle);
Wosene Kosrof (Ethiopia/Berkeley, CA);
Julie Mehretu (Ethiopia/NYC);
Rashid Ali (Somalia/London);
Mohamed Hamid (Sudan/Columbus, OH)
Images of “Left Behind”
