Photo By Wendimagen Belete
Yohannes Mulat Mekonnen (1992) is a multidisciplinary artist and visual anthropologist working in film, installations, drawings, and mixed media. Growing up in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia—a melting pot of different ethnicities, religions, and languages—he has always been fascinated by the intersections and tensions that arise from such coexistence. His recent works explore the question of representations of reality and the role of power in the creation of truth and narrative, drawing roots from his upbringing in a city brimming with diverse cultures and multiple competing narratives.
After completing his undergraduate studies at the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design (ASFAD) and engaging in a year of diverse artistic practice, Yohannes moved to Tromsø, Norway, where he pursued a Master's in Contemporary Arts. Following two years of studio practice in Oslo, Norway, he moved to Germany, where he is currently a graduating student of Visual and Media Anthropology. His works draw from extensive research and critically engage with the complexities of representation, particularly within the context of ethnographic museums.
Yohannes Mulat Mekonnen Atelierhaus Speicher II, 1.5
Hafenweg 28, 48155
Münster
Read Further
Interviews, seminar, and talks
Where does the artist belong in the digital age?
Øyepå Conference 2020, OsloThis year's curator Nicole Rafiki concluded Øyepå in a conversation with the artists Yohannes Mekonnen and Ilavenil Jayapalan , to stake out the future course in the program item "The Room of Opportunity". Rafiki is himself an artist and photographer, and all three work within different disciplines and use digital tools in their work. Together, they represent new, young artists with different backgrounds in terms of culture and career path, who work actively with digital media to reach out broadly and variedly.
They discussed the terms digital art and digital art dissemination, and what opportunities and threats exist for artists in the digital sphere.
But digital is also art:
- All art tools are an extension of the artist himself, said Mekonnen, whether it's a pencil or a computer. He compared the digital to light, which can be a tool to make something visible, or an art to be seen in itself.
Full Article
The Meaning of Color
Tuesday, 9 Nov 2021
In the spring and summer of 2020, #Blacklivesmatter protests brought youth into the streets in high numbers; also in Norway. Alongside intensified anti-racist engagements, the volume in counter-narratives challenging anti-racism also increased. "In societies convinced of their post-racial status, racism is always something else, and happens somewhere else", as Gavan Titley asserts. In Norway, racist speech, actions and structures are clearly present but personal experiences of racism are met with counter-arguments, belittling or outrage even today. Thus, interpersonal and public acknowledgement of people's lived experience is still badly needed in order to address structural racism in society. Please note: this event has been changed, and will only be held physically. However, an audio recording will be posted the day after.
The PRIO Centre on Culture and Violent Conflict and the PRIO Migration Centre invite you to a seminar on how racialized individuals navigate everyday confrontations with structural racism. Laura Führer, Yohannes Mekonnen and Harmeet Kaur will present their artistic and research explorations on the question of how racialized individuals — born in Norway or migrated from elsewhere — navigate majority understandings of 'color'.
Listen to the seminar here or
The right to be remembered
Podcast
Fotogalleriet Oslo
Dec,2021
In episode 2, we discuss the “right to be remembered” with research librarian and social anthropologist Michelle Tisdel and contemporary artist Yohannes Mekonnen.
Through the creation of national collections and archives, and institutions such as libraries and museums to house and disseminate them, nation states and other groups which wish to lay claim to power have produced and disseminated dominant historical narratives which have come to shape our self-perception and understanding of the world and its power structures and relations.
How do archives or national collections come into being, and who initiates them? Can archives or collections ever be fully representative? How have materials concerning Pan-African movements in the 20th century ended up in the Norwegian National Library? Do communities and individuals which archival materials concern have access to them on the same level as institutions and academics? What are the consequences of ones history being collected, categorised, and administered by someone else, or somewhere else?
the podcast
Painting and moving images are central to the works you present here. Is there a reason why you have chosen this form of expression?
- Yes, one reason is that I can paint. Another reason is related to how the world is seen differently through the camera lens and the painting. Through the optical look you get in film and photography, you get a mechanical and more indifferent look. While the painting - I think - follows my inner rhythm. When I paint, the mistakes and uncertainty become part of the process. And I think that fits what I want to say.
Read the article here
I think the same can be said in the making of an artwork. The making is not a process of materializing preconceived ideas. However, the artwork emerges from the reality and challenge of the material at hand.
At least, in my case this is one of the strategies that I use. I try to collect a variety of materials, in relation to the theme of my project. Then the art work takes its form in the process of bridging the distance between the materials collected in the studio. In this process, one of the things which becomes more visible is the more polarized the material is, the stronger the synthesis will be.
full article here