HEARKENING REALITIES ART EXHIBITION BY DEREJE SHIFERAW
Dereje Shiferaw born in Asmera in 1978, is a naturally gifted selftaught-painter who states, “…my combined love for art and nature… has found its way into my life...”. His exhibition HEARKENING REALITIES is a collection of new paintings which documents a range of social issues from miseducation to impact of war on children. Opening this weekend at Moa Anibessa Art Studio Gallery in Kazanches, Dereje’s newest works consist of acrylic on paper filled with a fresh bold graphic style. Where many artists are refining and defining, Dereje is emphasizing and challenging. His signature African subjects project lush illustrious lips with huge contorted hands accentuated with simple yet stylized nose and eyes which speak volumes. Funky and fresh, Dereje is unbridled by any academic pedagogy or formula; going freely where most formally taught artist dare to go. HEARKENING REALITIES documents Dereje’s journey into a world where those without hearing use sign language to communicate. The expressive hand gestures, bright colors, subtle touches of nature create a story of confident and conscious people who are comfortable with their so-called “disability”. He also explores the miseducation of Africans, confined to Euro-centric education, now being challenged by a generation waking up to the realities of foreign “interests.” Dereje declares “Influenced by nature, human beings, social elements to questionable politics, culture, economic circumstance in Ethiopia, Africa and worldwide…i am motivated by it all. The Intriguing dialogue between the subject's message and the viewer is compelling…physically and emotionally invested in the subject's story, my aim is to capture the sprit, essence and heritage of my subject and use this as an opportunity for the world to peer into the lives and struggles of people whose stories are yet to be told…”. Dereje’s exhibition is open until March 13th, at Moa Anibessa, an art studio gallery offered to selected artists from Africa and the Diaspora by contemporary fine artist, Prince Merid Tafesse. To book an appointment please text or call 0911864677.
New Delhi’s digital diplomacy is making inroads. When India rolled out its online payments infrastructure to power realtime money transfers six years ago, it unwittingly laid the foundation for a technology-driven Belt and Road initiative. It gives Prime Minister Narendra Modi a more cost-efficient answer to China’s multi-trillion-dollar splurge on ports and pipelines in the intensifying battle for regional influence. Modi is eager to export the system and other parts of India’s growing stack of digital public goods. Against that aim, plans announced last week for an entity backed by Nepal’s central bank to deploy India’s payments model is a significant development for the Himalayan nation sandwiched between two jostling giants. The rollout will happen in partnership with the international unit of the National Payments Corporation of India, an initiative from the Reserve Bank of India.
It sets up Nepal to replicate the success of its southernly neighbour’s booming digital economy, considered by venture capitalists as one of the world’s most sophisticated markets for financial technology. India’s interoperable “Unified Payments Interface” is an open set of specifications that speeds up the movement of cash, reduces the scope for dodging the taxman and makes it easier for startups to thrive. UPI underpins numerous money-sending applications. Among the biggest read more are Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) G-pay, Walmart’s (WMT.N) Phonepe and One97 Communications’ (PAYT.NS) Paytm. It is a leading payment option on everything from e-commerce to airline websites. The system democratises payments by allowing labourers, young professionals, small shopkeepers and large merchants to transfer money through their smartphones at zero-cost to each other’s bank accounts in real-time. It uses a Qr-code, an email-styled address or a phone number. UPI handled some 39 billion transactions amounting to $940 billion in 2021, equal to nearly a third of India’s GDP. The disarmingly simple design reduces the appeal of credit card companies Mastercard and Visa (V.N). And in India’s payments paradise there’s no duopoly as in China, where Ant and Tencent (0700.HK) dominate. Nepal’s embrace adds to a growing list of endorsements. Encouraged by India’s rapid digital development, Google wrote to the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2019 recommending an open system “akin to UPI” for the central bank’s planned interbank real-time gross settlement service. Last year, another important and strategically placed Indian neighbour, Bhutan, opted to deploy Upi-specification QR codes, a potential precursor to its deeper adoption of India’s protocol. India also has a partnership with Singapore to accept UPI Qr-based payments.
LUCRATIVE GROUND
Closing a soft infrastructure gap marks a stark contrast to China President Xi Jinping’s attempt to plug the hard infrastructure deficit stretching from Pakistan to Sri Lanka. His Belt and Road programme formally started in 2013. At its best, constructing transport corridors is a good way to make friends because such projects provide countries with highly desired funding, jobs, taxes and technical expertise. When it goes wrong, however, Beijing’s readiness to extend hefty loans on opaque terms can look like debt-trap diplomacy, even if it isn’t intended to be. On the other hand, India’s direct financial gain from sharing its technology will likely be limited to nominal fees.
Mirroring India’s success will have its own challenges, however. Governments need to accept their own Upi-like systems as a public good and ideally have them overseen by a neutral umbrella organisation with the full