Coloured skin: the body art of Aida Muluneh - in pictures
Ethiopian photographer Aida Muluneh returned to her homeland to cut through the cliches of ‘animals, war, and famine’ with ultra-colourful images. Tizita / Nostaligia Inspired by traditional African body art, Ethiopian artist Aida Muluneh creates brightly surreal meditations on identity. An exhibition of her work is at VivaneArt in Calgary until 24 February. All photographs: Aida Muluneh The Morning Bride Muluneh has had an uprooted existence since her birth in Ethiopia, living in Yemen, the UK, Cyprus, Canada and finally the US, where she worked as a photojournalist for the Washington Post Age of Anxiety She has since returned to Ethiopia, a move she describes as ‘a lesson in humility, and what it means to return to a land that was foreign to me’ City Life ‘When I do something, I do it passionately. I want a passionate colour - something that’s both beautiful and disturbing at the same time, like a car accident you can’t help but look at,’ she says Denkinesh Birth on Ground These works are from her series The World Is 9, named after a saying of her grandmother: ‘The world is nine, it is never complete and it’s never perfect’ dream-states and fragmented narratives fail to add up so tidily in most of the other stories. Early on in the book, one character quotes from an archaic poem: “It may wele ryme but it accordith nought.” This proves unfortunate foreshadowing, as Oyeyemi’s technically elegant writing ultimately amounts to more style than substance.
As far as style goes, there are plenty of enjoyable moments. Flashes of deadpan humour crop up frequently: a pregnant woman recalls her lover observing, “‘Babies are so …’ and I thought he was going to say something poetic but he finished: ‘expensive’.” Memory of Libya ‘Each image is an exploration of questions about life, love and history. I am not seeking answers but asking provocative questions about the life that we live - as people, as nations, as beings’ Local Understanding ‘I have chosen to continue working on body painting, which is inspired by traditional body art from across Africa. Each work is a reflection of conscious and subconscious manifestations of time and space’ The Departure ‘When people think about Africa right now, they often only think about animals, war and famine. I’m trying to distort that impression to provoke questions in a different sense’
Romance is Dead