Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie (b. 1990) is a self taught Ethiopian photographer and visual artist, born and based in Addis Ababa. Her work is inspired by her own history, memory and experiences as well as those of the people she engages with in her every day life. For her project, Between Yesterday and Tomorrow, she was a winner of the Contemporary African Photography Awards (2023) and recipient of the Prince Claus seed grant. Landscapes are a reflection of the complex relationship between political, social and economic contexts shaping the history and memory of Ethiopian people. Photographs taken during the course of her work and from family albums are superimposed on archival images from her father's history books. The superimposition "brings forward somewhat of a new being [and place] removed further from the original, speaking to not only the fluidity of memory but to the fluidity of identity in the present day as well".
For many Ethiopians, remembering is in their cultural DNA - whether in politics, art or in the form of conflict. Maheder says of her people: "they stand at an intersection between a yearning for the past and a longing for the future with profound uncertainty". Haileselassie describes the act of remembering as "the act of feeling". For the series she delved into three types of archives: her own family's photograph albums, her father's history books and her own photographic work, seeking to address the concept of an involuntary memory, one of emotions and senses. The final images in the series contain layers from these archives, encompassing the rich social, natural and cultural histories of her country.
Maheder Haileselassie was shortlisted for the Grand Prix Images Vevey 2023/2024 award and Phmuseum grant. Her work has been exhibited at numerous venues, museums and festivals around the world and she has been accepted to programs such as World Press Photo Masterclass and New York Times Portfolio Review. She has collaborated with Frobenius Institute, University of Cambridge, The Ethiopian Institute of Architecture and the Goethe Institut on projects that look into the intersection between photography, history, anthropology and architecture. She also runs the Centre For Photography in her home country, a critical learning platform for emerging artists.
