Contemporary women artists in Ethiopia.

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This research note explores the lives and work of six contemporary women artists in Ethiopia, both those who paint within the artistic traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and those who were educated in an academic, fine art tradition and whose work sells in art galleries in Addis Ababa and abroad. What these women share is the strength necessary to become artists and the challenges imposed by a competitive, male-dominated market. Their success in this market is affected by their educational and social backgrounds, both of which impact their ability to work and their access to materials and customers. In this note, I briefly examine the historical roles of women as patrons and as subjects of Ethiopian art before addressing the roles of cultural and traditional institutions in shaping the Ethiopian art market. I also examine the strategies female artists employ to make art that fulfills their creative vision while also providing a means of subsistence. Finally, I explore how they balance their aesthetic and economic concerns.

WOMEN AS PATRONS, SUBJECTS, AND ARTISTS

Since the introduction of Christianity in the fourth century AD, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) has been the center of art production in which painting has been the dominant genre. For centuries, the ecclesiastic and secular nobility were patrons of the arts and monasteries and many monasteries also functioned as art workshops. Patrons directly influenced the work of commissioned artists and could refuse to purchase art that did not meet their expectations (Heldman 1994:90). Several studies of EOC artistic traditions have noted the strong relationship between the production of art and the exercise of social or political power. By donating paintings to, or commissioning works for, a church, patrons could acquire the religious support of the churches and monasteries they favored (Biasio 1994:552). In turn, nobles used their good-will gestures to generate respect and loyalty among their followers and even to lay claim to the throne. Particularly during periods when the monarchy was weak, nobles who fought for power used art as a means to achieve their ultimate goal of ascension, as well as to further enhance their prestige and power, particularly by building and/ or decorating numerous churches. The church effectively used this competition among patrons to its own advantage, rendering donations to important churches and monasteries essential for any claimant to the throne (Ababaw 2002:101-102).

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It is important to note that Highland, Christian upper-class women were actively involved as patrons in the construction and decoration of churches. To my knowledge, the earliest woman patron was Princess Zir Ganela, who presented an illuminated Four Gospels to her community in 1400/01 (Heldman 1972:85). In the fifteenth century, Queen Elleni, wife of Emperor Zara Ya'cob (r. 1434-68), commissioned the construction of several churches, including Mertule Maryam in Gojam (Henze 2004:2). Among the Gondarian royalty of the early seventeenth century, Queen Walda Sala was responsible for the construction of Qoma Fasiladas, a church richly decorated with wall paintings. Empress Mentewab, wife of Emperor Bekaffa (r. 1721-30), is credited with building many churches and commissioning numerous wall paintings and illuminated manuscripts in Gondar and Gojam (Chojnacki 1999:21). In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, female royal patrons such as Empress Taytu, the wife of Emperor Menelik, and Empress Zewditu, (1) his daughter, followed in the steps of their predecessors, supporting church construction and decoration throughout the country.

While relatively few Highland Christian Ethiopian women have historically been active patrons of the arts, evidence of representations of women in paintings, wall murals, and icons is much more common. In traditional Ethiopian art, we find St. Mary playing the role of mother, Birutawite as a victim waiting to be saved by St. George, the Queen of Sheba as a royal woman used to legitimize the Solomonic dynasty (1270-1974), and ordinary women as housewives and helpmates of men. We also find the representation of other female saints and noble patrons. The Virgin Mary began to occupy a significant place in Ethiopian art at the time of Emperor Zara Yacob (r. 1434-68). (2) Stanislaw Chojnacki's study of donor portraiture reveals that portraits of women can be found in church paintings (ibid., pp. 52-53). For example, female donors are usually depicted prostrating at the bottom of the painting they donated. In this way, they were able to occupy an equal position to their male compatriots, with their class playing a greater role than their gender (ibid.). Representation of women in secular themes, however, often illustrates the unequal status of women within society.

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The newly emerging secular themes of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries concentrated on battle and hunting scenes, while religious paintings repeatedly represented warrior saints, due to the social value placed on a military career and to the number of armed conflicts in the country. Because of the emphasis on male heroism and courage, women were rarely represented in secular paintings in roles that glorified their social or economic status. Two exceptions are the theme of the Seyt Woyzero, which shows a noble woman with her entourage (Fig. 1) and the consistently popular theme of the legend of the Queen of Sheba. Paintings depicting daily life also reveal the activities of rural Christian Ethiopian woman.

Women are more frequently the subject of paintings produced by artists trained in a Western, academic fine art tradition. The beauty of women, women's hair and dress styles from different ethnic groups, and the day-to-day activities of rural women have all been inspiration for these artists, both male and female. During the 1974 revolution, which emphasized the emancipation of women, images of women as heroines began to appear in posters and paintings. In particular, images of young woman became the symbol of the Motherland and of the Revolution against the Imperial regime (Seyoum 1988:19). This continued throughout the Derg regime (1974-1991). Today, the "woman's burden" is an inspiration for many young artists--both male and female--although young women artists believe that they better understand the feelings of and hardships faced by women than their male counterparts. Some of the favorite themes of women artists are women carrying firewood, water, or a baby while working, making injera, and selling produce and materials in the market. Paintings depicting such themes are particularly common in restaurants-cum-galleries, such as Makush, which cater to expatriate residents and tourists as well as Ethiopians from the Diaspora.

In general, despite its long and rich history, the Ethiopian painting tradition had relatively little room for women as patrons and certainly none for women as artists. Traditional church art, in particular, was completely dominated by men. Although documents show that women were occasionally active as patrons of art, their participation as artists was almost null until late in the twentieth century. First, the training system itself is structured so as to shut the door to women. In addition, prevailing customs, a lack of educational facilities and economic scarcity affect the status of women in Ethiopian society. At present, the position of women within society is slowly improving in the socio-economic and political spheres due to factors such as education, transportation, and urbanization. Women who benefit most from the ongoing changes in the country are those who live in the urban and semi-urban areas and in particular, those who are educated.

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SIX CONTEMPORARY WOMEN ARTISTS

Many of the traditional EOC-based practices for producing art have survived to this day, though they have gone through a continuous process of change and adaptation (see Sobania and Silverman, Biasio in this issue). Ethiopian women have not, however, been part of this tradition as they have never been given the opportunity to receive proper training as painters. Traditionally, girls were not allowed to attend church schools and they were often given in marriage by their families as early as the age of seven. (3) Many churches and monasteries that were centers of painting production were also located in inaccessible areas, which made it difficult for women to travel to them in order to receive training as painters. Instead, they were expected to fulfill household demands both before and after marriage. In addition, the fact that paint preparation was a learned skill made it even more difficult for women to become painters. Trainees learnt basic forms of expression, composition, mixing colors, as well as some of the conventional methods for rendering particular themes. They also received a theological education. Their progress was strictly followed by a master painter and the training period could take more than seven years. After completing the different phases of training, the painter was given a certain title according to his mastery of the art of painting and his comparative rank to other painters. In most cases, church painters seem to have held a high social and ecclesiastical status. In the past, it is likely that all painters were priests or dabteras and in some cases monks (Abebaw 2002:101-102).

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It is important to recognize, however, that women actively engaged in a number of other "traditions of creativity" (Silverman 1999:11). In fact, many of these are primarily produced by women, including pottery, basket making, and textile weaving and embroidery. Yet, people who produce these forms of art have rarely been considered "artists" and some were even associated with the "evil eye." The irony is that these art forms are generally referred to as "ije tebibe", which literally means "someone with skilled hands" thus recognizing the skill and mastery required to produce objects such as pots and baskets, many of which serve utilitarian purposes as well as being aesthetically beautiful. (4)

For these reasons, I found it quite challenging to locate women artists who paint within the traditions of the EOC. I thus began this study by asking people if they knew of such women; through word-of-mouth I succeeded in locating several female painters. I will now turn to the biographies of three women artists who paint for the church and EOC faithful or who produce religious images for sale in tourist shops.

Woyzero Lemlem Gebremeskal was born in 1952 to a peasant family in a small town in what is now the Tigrai regional state. As a child, Lemlem began painting by using charcoal to draw pictures of animals and people on the mud walls of her house. (5) A priest who saw her work advised her to continue to paint and mentioned that she could find materials and fellow artists in Aksum. Carrying her youngest child on her back, Lemlem walked to Aksum where she met Aleqa (6) Yohannes Teklu, one of the town's famous painters, who agreed to offer her some basic guidance in the art of painting. Initially, she asked to buy paint from him and he refused to sell it to her and asked where she was from. According to her, when Aleqa Yohannes realized Woyzero Lemlem was from a village where there were no painters, two things worried him: her fledgling status as a painter and her gender. After a great deal of persuasion, he agreed to sell her paint. He even showed her how to mix the powder paint with kola, a sticky liquid and gave her instruction on how to stretch her canvas. From then on, she learnt through trial and error (Fig. 2).

Woyzero Lemlem came from a peasant family with little knowledge of painting. No one else paints in the area where she was born and now lives. (7) The churches in her town are decorated with paintings bought from Aksum. So Woyzero Lemlem had no one to look up to as a mentor; and since she has not received formal training in painting techniques, she did not know much about the rules and techniques of Ethiopian religious art. Going back and forth to Aksum to sell her work during the St. Mary's festival helped her to observe other artists painting and their work and to apply what she saw to her own canvases.

Another female painter, Emahoy (8) Wolate-Yohannes Sebehatu, was born in 1967. As a teenager, she moved to Gondar, where she discovered her passion for religious painting and decided that the life of a nun was her calling. She then entered a convent in Bahir Dar. Emahoy Wolate-Yohannes learnt the techniques of traditional painting from a priest while living in one of the churches on Lake Tana (Fig. 3).

Learning about art was exciting for Emahoy Wolata-Yohannes. She had no exposure to art through her family and grew up in a town without any painters, though some paintings did come in later from other areas. During her childhood, only one painting, of St. George, existed in her local church. Looking at this painting, Emahoy Wolata-Yohannes used to believe painting was a divine talent reserved only for religious men. She still considers her talent to paint a gift from God. Now that she is a painter, the difference is that she believes God gives this gift to both men and women.

Yordanos Berhanemeskal was born to a painter family in Aksum; today, her father, Ato Berhanemeskal is the city's most-well known artist, as Sobania and Silverman have argued in their contribution to this issue. She grew up surrounded by traditional church-based art and started painting as a child, following in the footsteps of her father and elder brothers. Whenever possible, Yordanos spent time sitting behind her father, observing what he painted and trying to imitate his work when he was not at home. Moreover, she began reading the Bible and attending Sunday school to learn the stories of characters her father paints. Now twenty-five years old, Yordanos lives in Addis Ababa and produces paintings and icons for the tourist market in Addis and Aksum (Figs. 4-5).

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Although relatively few women also work as academically trained artists, a number have graduated from what is now the School of Fine Arts and Design (SFAD) and a few are active in Addis Ababa as full-time studio artists. When the school was inaugurated by Emperor Haile Selassie (r. 1930-74) in 1957, it had thirty-five male students. A year later, the school accepted its first female student. At the time the SFAD opened, almost all of the instructors were foreigners and many students were not very interested in joining the school as it was not considered an institution of higher education like Addis Ababa University. Gradually, "modern" art gained acceptance within Addis Ababa, and the number of applicants increased. The percentage of female students has, however, consistently remained very low as less than 20 percent of each class are women (Emebet 1988:39). Currently the school admits twenty-five to thirty students a year, out of which five or six are usually women. The female artists I will discuss below represent three generations of SFAD graduates.

Desta Hagos was born in Adwa in 1952, and she lived there until the age of nine, when she moved to Addis Ababa. Desta Hagos's artistic interest developed at the age of five, when her father bought her crayons and asked her to draw flowers, rather than cutting them from the garden. After she finished high school, Desta joined the SFAD in 1964 as one of the first female students. Her teacher Gebre-Kristos Desta (9) exerted an enduring influence on her style, which was also affected by her studies in the United States, where she earned a BFA from California Lutheran College. After three decades working as an artist, Desta Hagos recently opened her own art gallery in Addis Ababa (Fig. 6).

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The second artist, Elizabeth Habte-Wolde, attended the SFAD during the Derg regime. Born in 1966 in Addis Ababa, Elizabeth Habte-Wolde attended the Empress Menen School for girls. She picked up a paintbrush at the early age of eight and also developed a passion for Ethiopian traditional dance (Fig. 7). In the 1980s, after graduating from the SFAD, Elizabeth immigrated to the US, where she attended Howard University and studied under Skunder Boghossian. In 2000, she returned to Ethiopia, where she works as a studio artist and experiments with computer animation.

Merikokeb Berhanu was born in 1977 in Addis Ababa and finished her secondary education at Medhanialem Comprehensive High School, which is known for its strong student art club. In high school her final exam score was not high enough to earn entry into an Ethiopian university. (10) Therefore, she registered for an evening program at the SFAD, where she earned a certificate over the next two years. For Merikokeb the training in the evening program was unsatisfactory, so during the day she spent her time at the Medhanialem art club practicing drawing from still life and models. The club's training was designed to prepare students to pass the entrance exam for the SFAD's regular program. However, after finishing evening school, it took Merikokeb four years to pass the entrance exam to enroll for the day program. In 2002, Merikokeb received her diploma from SFAD in mural art and she currently works as a studio artist, in a group studio with several friends (Figs. 8-9).

WOMEN ARTISTS WITHIN THE ART MARKET: BALANCING AESTHETIC AND ECONOMIC CONCERNS

Once they enter the art world, one of the challenges faced by the three women artists who paint within the traditions of the EOC is that they lack the proper theological training provided to male artists; they also lack knowledge of the Geez (11) language. Even Emahoye Wolete-Yohannes, who is a nun and thus an official member of the EOC, has not gained acceptance as a serious artist. Like the other women artists, Emahoy Wolete-Yohannes's knowledge of the Bible is restricted to her attendance at church and the interpretations presented by priests in their sermons.

With fewer opportunities to be trained and guided by mentors, these women artists had to work extremely hard to survive in the competitive art world, whether that of the EOC or the Addis Ababa fine art community. Growing up in the small town of Zana, Lemlem Gebre-Mesqel had no one to look up to as a tutor to train her to be an artist. Therefore, she made countless trips to Aksum in order to learn as much as she could about the art of painting and to sell her work. In particular, she always tries to travel to the city for the annual celebration of St. Mary's day, which is known as Hidar Tsion. To Wayzero Lemlem, the Hidar Tsion (12) celebration was like a "pilgrimage of art" and gave her the opportunity to meet other artists and observe their work. As Lemlem says, however:

   It was quite a challenge to compete with Aksumite painters who were
   not willing to share their techniques and their knowledge with me
   and who are not ready to accept me as a woman artist. I couldn't
   survive the male dominated art market in Aksum nor could I
   penetrate the network of artists and gain their acceptance. But I
   will continue to paint and try to sell my work during Hidar Tsion.
   (13)

Even coming from a family of four generations of artists made it no easier for Yordanos Berhanemeskal to become a painter. According to Yordanos, her father did not give as much attention to her interests, as her parents considered painting a man's job and were paving the way for their sons to become painters. Yordanos and her younger sister were expected to help their mother with the care of their younger siblings and with the housework, while their brothers spent their after-school time learning from their father, Ato Berhanemeskal Fessiha. This did not, however, prevent Yordanos Berhanemeskal from pursuing her dream. Instead she became a prolific traditional painter and a role model for her younger sister and female cousin, who now follow in her footsteps. Thanks to an established family network, Yordanos closely works with goldsmiths in Aksum and prolifically paints on the wood and metal cross designs they produce.

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Once artists like Yordanos become painters, their deep spirituality and their desire to reach the church congregations usually supersede any desires they might have to experiment in their artwork. As a religious person, Lemlem Gebremeskal believes that an EOC artist should not deviate from the established rules for painting religious images. She believes that creativity should only be applied to secular images of people, markets, the landscape, etc. Her portrait of Emperor Tewodros and Emperor Yohannes is a good example of her philosophy (Fig. 10). In it she has portrayed the two rulers as a lion and a tiger, respectively, but with human heads that are recognizable within contemporary convention as Emperors Tewodros and Yohannes. Woyzero Lemlem also creates paintings depicting fighters from the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) complete with military costumes and dreadlock hairstyles (Fig. 11). She also produces wedding, or gamma, (14) paintings for her community. As to Emahoy Wolata-Yohannes Sebehatu who resides in Gondar, (15) she cannot help but be inspired by historical themes. She paints the castles of Gondar as well as the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela.

The opportunity to search for their own style seems more visible for women artists creating modern art. Unlike their peers working within the realm of the EOC, once they pass the exam to enter the SFAD, female students have the same access to training as their male counterparts. They do, however, still face challenges related to their gender while in school and after they graduate. Many of these challenges can be attributed to various social pressures that all women face, such as the pressure to get married and have children. Women attending the SFAD also face discrimination in that many of their fellow students and community members do not believe women can become great fine artists. Others say that people believe women were only admitted due to a quota for female students and not due to their talent or potential. It cannot be denied, however, that as artists, female SFAD students have the freedom to experiment with different mediums and choose their own style. Desta Hagos is known for her paintings on canvas depicting nature and landscapes, while Elisabeth Habte-Wold produces collages, made mostly from newspapers, that thematically focus on the lived experiences of Ethiopians at home and abroad.

SOCIETY'S PERCEPTION OF ART

Once they attempt to enter the art market--whether in Addis Ababa or Aksum--the existence and success of women artists is closely tied to the communities in which they live and to their social status. While Orthodox Ethiopians living in rural communities are only exposed to art in churches and would not consider other non-Christian traditions of creativity "art", Ethiopians living in the capital city hold different perceptions of and ideas about art. Traditional EOC art has a clear spiritual function and is considered an occupation for the clergy, which does not include women. In most cases, people cannot hide their surprise when they encounter a woman artist producing art within the EOC tradition. Although Lemlem Gebremeskel is the only painter in her village, most local residents prefer to buy paintings from Aksum, at greater expense. Woyzero Lemlem says that many residents raise questions about her talent as an artist and local priests in her town publicly state that she does not know the church painting conventions. Yet she firmly argues that church rules do not forbid women from painting. Her main clients are individuals interested in donating paintings to churches named after their favorite saints. Because she is unable to depend solely on money earned from selling paintings, Woyzero Lemlem has developed alternative sources of income. She bought a sewing machine with savings earned from painting and now also tailors clothes; in addition, she has a small farm.

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As products of a conservative culture that forces women to focus on their role as housewives, women like Woyzero Lemlem face difficult challenges every day as they strive to prove their capabilities as artists. To be considered a church-trained artist within the EOC requires an intensive period of study that takes a minimum of seven years. Because this process remains closed to women, many people continue to argue that women do not-and cannot--be "proper" artists.

Unlike Woyzero Lemlem, Emahoy Wolata-Yohannes Sebehatu lives in an urban environment. Yet even though she lives ill Gondar, she has not received assistance or attention from the city or church governing bodies, so she sells her paintings, as well as clothing made for priests and deacons, in her small shop. She also makes clothing for weddings, traditional embroidered cloaks, and debab (embroidered umbrellas). During one conversation, Emahoy Wolata-Yohannes commented that she has been unable to sell her paintings to tourists because most want small paintings, which are easy to transport; this reinforces the point about the scale of tourist art in Aksum made by Sobania and Silverman in their contribution to this issue. Emahoy Wolata-Yohannes also recognizes that few tourists come to her shop because she does not have a connection to the tour guides who often show tourists where to buy paintings. She once traveled to Addis Ababa and tried to sell her paintings outside of a church, but she was unsuccessful and never tried again.

The growth in the number of tourists visiting Ethiopia and the number of Ethiopians traveling abroad has resulted in increasing opportunities for cultural exchange. Slowly but surely, society has accepted contemporary fine art in Addis Ababa, particularly during the 1960s when artists such as Gebre-Kristos Desta and Skunder Boghossian enjoyed international acclaim. Although the Derg regime disrupted the contemporary art community, as it did all facets of life in the Ethiopian capital, artistic activity has experienced great renewal in the seventeen years since the Derg was overthrown. As an artist for more than three decades, Desta Hagos has witnessed many of these changes as well as the continuity of Orthodox resistance to Western art practices like figure drawing. For example, she recalls that while a student at the SFAD, many people were shocked to learn that she painted nude models in her anatomy class. Today, concerns about nudity and art remain high as a recent effort to mount an art exhibition of photos featuring partially clothed models was banned by the federal government. (16) When Desta Hagos departed Ethiopia to study in the United States, she left a city with a vibrant contemporary art community. She returned in 1974 to find that everything had changed with the revolution. At present, Desta believes that she has not received the appropriate recognition and encouragement for her contribution as a pioneering woman artist. "Such recognition comes with intellectual, cultural and economic development that Ethiopia has not yet experienced" (17)

The young artist Merikokob Berhanu has a more optimistic view about contemporary Ethiopian society's perception of art. She believes that even people outside of the contemporary art community understand her work and that people are happy to see women making art and encouraging of them. Still, women artists in both contexts have to work especially hard to survive in what is an aggressive male dominated art market. Many young female SFAD graduates have found it beneficial to join a group studio, with either male or female colleagues from the school. They also take jobs teaching, creating graphic designs, or producing works on commission in order to survive; many of their male peers do the same. Unlike Desta, when she moved back to Ethiopia in 1974, Elizabeth Habte-Wold found a vibrant art community that was flourishing thanks to a new generation of talented young artists, committed gallery owners and cultural institutions, and a growing cohort of patrons. She is among the many who have witnessed an increase in the number of exhibition openings and other cultural activities with high attendance in Addis Ababa.

Yet, except for a few educated and affluent Ethiopians and foreign residents with a passion for collecting art, government officials and members of the business community do not seem to consider themselves cultural custodians, at least in the sense of purchasing and commissioning works of art. More recently, however, artists themselves say that more Ethiopian and foreign residents and visitors are collecting contemporary Ethiopian art. Desta Hagos has commented that some Ethiopians have even spent up to 15,000 birr (US$2000) on one artwork; Ethiopians who live aboard are also becoming major art buyers.

The involvement of foreign cultural institutes and private galleries has played a significant role in creating venues where artists and collectors can meet. The main beneficiaries of this have been contemporary academically trained artists, particularly young men. Initially established with the aim of teaching their culture and language, foreign cultural institutes, including Alliance Ethio-Francase, the Italian Cultural Institute, and the Goethe Institute, have become key players in the development of the contemporary Ethiopian art community. Usually working independently as non-profit institutions, they actively organize exhibitions, by both Ethiopians and foreign artists, and hold panel discussions, symposiums, workshops, exhibitions, and festivals. These institutes have also helped to establish contact and networks between Ethiopian, African, and European artists. Desta and Merikokob have been part of group exhibitions organized by these cultural institutes on several occasions.

In the case of the few women artists who paint within the traditions of the EOC, one of the major challenges they face is the lack of a support network or access to information. The traditional women painters under discussion do not know of each other and have no contact with other women painters, nor with their male peers. Most of all they are not recognized within the church system or by other institutions, such as those mentioned above. Their secluded existence negatively affects their professional life. Their urban sisters who produce secular art do have the support network of an art school. As the only government higher education institution training women artists, the SFAD continues to play a major role, even though very few women actually pass the entrance examination and join the school. More discouraging is the fact that quite a number of female SFAD students do not work regularly as artists following their graduation, due to social and family commitments. As the experiences of the women artists under discussion show. their success or survival is the result of their own hard work. Thus far, the unique and active involvement of women as gallery owners--including Konjit Seyoum of Asni Gallery and Meskerem Assegued of Zoma Contemporary Art Center--has not had a major positive effect on the success of women artists, in part because so few of them are active as full-time studio artists.

Therefore, the position of women artists is interrelated with the development of Ethiopian society in every aspect. Government institutions should take the initiative to acquire and display works by contemporary artists, both as a means of encouraging young artists and of preserving their work for future generation. Thus far, this responsibility seems to be left for foreign cultural institutions and expatriate collectors, many of whom remove their collections from Ethiopia once their work in the country has ended. Hopefully, in the future, the National Museum and the Institute of Ethiopian Studies will allocate funding for the collection, documentation, preservation and research of contemporary artwork, whether by women like Emahoy Wolata-Yohannes Sebehatu, whose work reflects the long-standing traditions of the EOC, or academically trained artists such as Elizabeth Habte-Wold, who is one of several contemporary painters and sculptors to have returned to Ethiopia after many years abroad.

References cited

Abebaw Ayalew. 2002. A History of Painting in Eastern Gojjam in the 18th and 19th Centuries: A Study of the 'Second Gondarine' Style of Painting in Selected Churches and Monasteries. MA thesis, Addis Ababa University.

Biasio, Elisabeth. 1994. "Art Culture and Society: Consideration on Ethiopian Church Painting Focusing on the 19th Century." In Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies (Addis Ababa 1991), eds. Bahru Zewde, Richard Pankhurst, Taddesse Beyene, pp. 541-62. Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University.

Chojnacki, Stanislaw. 1999. "Preface." In Churches of Ethiopia: The Monastery of Narga Sellase, by Mario Di Salvo, pp. 11-31. Milan: Skira Editore.

--.1980. "Notes of the Ethiopian Traditional Art: The Last Phase." In Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, ed. Tadesse Beyene, pp. 52-72. Rotterdam: Institute of Ethiopian Studies, University of Addis Ababa.

Emebet Zerfu, 1988. The History of the Addis Ababa Fine Arts School (1958-1974), Department of History. BA thesis. Addis Ababa University.

Heldman, Marilyn. 1994. The Marian Icons of the Painter Fre Seyon: A Study in Fifteenth Century Ethiopian Art, Patronage, and Spirituality. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

--.1972. Miniatures of the Gospels of Princess Zir Ganela, An Ethiopic Manuscript Dated A.D 1400/01. PhD dissertation, Washington University, St. Louis.

Henze, Paul. 2004. "The Monastery of Mertule Maryam Speculations About its Architectural History." In The Indigenous and the Foreign in Christian Ethiopian Art. On Portuguese-Ethiopian Contacts in the 16th-17th Centuries, eds. Manuel Joao Ramos and Isabel Boavida, pp. 49-58. London: Ashgate.

Seyoum Wolde. 1988 "Sonic Aspects of Post-Revolution Visual Arts in Ethiopia." In Proceedings of the International Congress of Ethiopian Studies, pp. 7-25. Moscow: Nauka Publishers.

Silverman, Raymond. 1999. "Introduction." In Ethiopia: Traditions of Creativity, ed. Raymond Silverman, pp. 3-25. Seattle: University of Washington Press.

Notes

(1) Empress Zewditu was the only woman crowned as Empress in her own right.

(2) To this day, a woman who has these attributes will be described as being "as beautiful as St. Mary." St. Mary is believed to represent many of the aesthetic attributes of ideal beauty in the northern Christian Highlands. She is depicted with big eyes, a straight nose, small lips, and beautiful hands.

(3) Early marriage is still widely practiced in the rural parts of Ethiopia. Although the federal constitution states that eighteen is the legal age of marriage, this law is rarely enforced.

(4) See Belle Asante Tarsitani's article on this issue.

(5) In this, she was similar to many of her male peers, including Qes Adamu Tesfaw, who also began drawing with charcoal at a young age (see Silverman 2005).

(6) Head of a church, a learned priest.

(7) She lives in a small town called Zana, in Tigray Region.

(8) Title given to a nun.

(9) Gebre-Kristos Desta is an internationally known artist and one of the pioneering instructors at the SFAD.

(10) ESLCE (Ethiopian Schools Leaving Certificate Exam) a standard exam to enter collage or university.

(11) Geez is the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

(12) Hidar Tsion is celebrated on November 30, when artists sell their paintings to the pilgrims.

(13) Interview with Lemlem Gebremeskel, translated by Makda Teklemichael, Tigray Region, August 15, 2004

(14) Gamma (wedding) paintings are quite popular in Tigrai. the gamma painting is given as a gift to the bride by the best men after the wedding, The Christian names of the bride and groom and the date of marriage will be recorded on the painting

(15) Gondar was the capital city of the country from the seventeenth to nineteenth century and currently one of Ethiopia's prime tourist sites.

(16) Alemayehu Seife-Selassie, personal communication, June 28, 2008.

(17) interview with Desta Hagos, Addis Ababa September 29, 2005.

MAKDA TEKLEMICHAEL holds an MA in History from Addis Ababa University; her MA research focused on women artists in Ethiopia. She currently lives and works in New York City, most recently with a documentary film company, [e-mail]