Transforming the familiar into a language of memory, sacrifice, resilience and coexistence.
“The mektefia gave me a perspective to think about the formation, martyrdom, loss and violence as themes characterizing female persons in our society.”
A casual observation shows that the shape of a typical mektefia — the wooden chopping board — resembles a woman’s torso. Tamerat Siltan has spent years following that resemblance: studying the board’s form in sketches, paintings, prints and sculpture, and watching what a lifetime in the kitchen does to it.
Every time food is set down, no one pays attention to the scars and beatings the board has taken from the knives, gradually altering its shape and leaving a signature on its being. His work asks the same question of the women whose labour is consumed the same way — unseen, and rarely counted.
He works in Addis Ababa, where he curates the Red Door Art Gallery and founded the Addis International Art Symposium.
