Bio


I am an Ethiopian-born Bay Area artist. I attended California College of the Arts from 2013 to 2016. I received my Associate in Liberal Arts degree from Contra Costa College in 2019 and my BFA from San Francisco State University in 2022.


Artist Statment


I grew up listening to stories told by my family and friends. These were stories about our cultures. My artworks are influenced by the women around me and in the world, Africa, and nature. As an artist, my goal is to visually depict stories in my artwork. With each piece of artwork, I delve into topics ranging from my childhood memories, history, and traditions. I use my artwork to explore my roots, to transform them from inspiration into reality where ceramic sculptures and oil paintings come to life with bright, vivid warm, and earthy colors.

My ceramic sculptures are a tribute to the women who came before me, the women who raised me, and the women who will come after me. I have always admired the strong-willed women around me and in my family. As I aspire to become these women, I dedicate my work to representing them and making them monumental and timeless. Every sculpture is a tribute to their strength and their everlasting relevance.

I use sculpting clays, such as Hawaiian Red and Black Mount, to portray the female form. I chose both clays because their texture and colors resemble clays used to make pottery and traditional houses. Using the different sculpting methods, such as coiling and flat clay slabs, I construct the form of a faceless robust female figure with a flat top, transforming her into a dynamic symbol of a woman.

Their surface designs salute the history of African patterns and artifacts, and their platform tops imitate the action of women that laboriously carry food and water upon their heads and backs. Although my sculptures have flat tops, I do not always put a flat top on all the pieces. Some works have multiple pieces with flat-tops and some without flat-tops. Those with flat tops can be stacked or unstacked to mimic the action of women who carry various objects.