Michael Tsegaye Photographer Portfolio

Michael Tsegaye (1975) -- Photography

Artist Profile

Michael Tsegaye is a Photographer Artist.

Michael Tsegaye lives and works in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He graduated in painting from the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design in 2002, but gave up painting when he developed an allergy to oil paint. However, he found his real passion in photography and has made out of it not just a profession, but a way of expressing a very particular voice.

“As a photographer I try as much as possible to escape being pigeonholed. This is especially relevant as an African – and Ethiopian – photographer. I place myself among my peers (photographers and painters) across the world. As an Ethiopian I do not have a duty to focus my lens on suffering alone.

My life, and that of other African artists, is not predicated on poverty and hardships, although they are common sights. Rather I seek to understand my life and standpoint in the 21st century and express these through art. As an Ethiopian I approach art free from constraints.

Ethiopia has maintained her culture, language and traditions for centuries in a world that has been continually changing and subject to the (sometimes positive, sometimes negative) involvement of other countries, cultures and ideologies. Perhaps this lack of contact to the outside world has contributed to Ethiopia’s underdevelopment, but it has also ensured that Ethiopia’s ‘voice’ has never been corrupted.”

Exhibitions

Group Exhibitions

2010: African Journy: Gallery Sanna Utrecht Netherlands.

2010: Selam Arts Festival: Toronto Canada.

2010: Arte invisible/ARCO: Madrid Spain.

2010: H*tel Dystopia room #25/55: Al Bastakiya Art Fair Dubai.

2009: Aksum Rediscovered: the Reinstallation of the Obelisk, UNESCO House, Paris, France.

2009: Sicherheit Entwickeln–Entwicklung Sichern, GTZ House, Berlin, Germany.

2009: Spot on …Bamako VII. Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie, Institute for 2009: Foreign Cultural Relations, Berlin and Stuttgart, Germany.

2008 : Snap Judgments – Nieuwe standpunten in hedendaagse Afrikaans fotografie / New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, Het Stedelijk 2008 : 2008 : Museum, Amesterdam.

2008 : Snap Judgments : New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, Brooks 2008 : Museum of Art, Memphis, TN.

2007: Africa=Hot, Oude Kerk, World Press Photo Exhibition, Amesterdam, Netherlands.

2007: Africa=Hot, Tour & Taxis, World Press Photo Exhibition, Brussels, Belgium.

2007: VII Rencontres Afrcaines de la photographie: In the city and beyond, Bamako, Mali.

2007: Ethiopia on the Move, National Museum of Ethnology, Leiden, Netherlands.

2007: Engineering Tomorrow, Addis Ababa University, Faculty of Technology, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2007: Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, Museo Tamayo, Mexico City.

2006: Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, Miami Art Central, Miami, Florida, USA.

2006: Snap Judgments: New Positions in Contemporary African Photography, International Centre of Photography New York, USA.

2006: Kwas Meda, Goethe-Institute, Gebrekristos Desta Centre, Addis Ababa.

2005: Religious Ceremonies, Royal Netherlands Embassy, Addis Ababa.

2005: Colours In Us, Alliance Éthio-Française, Dire Dawa, Ethiopia.

2004: Expressions 2, Bulgarian Embassy, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2004: Guramayle, Alem Art Gallery Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2004: Expressions, Alem Art Gallery Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2004: Art for Solidarity, German School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2003: Foreign, Goethe-Institute, Gebrekristos Desta Centre, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2003: Self-portrait, Alliance Éthio-Française Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2001: Faces and Identities, Goethe-Institute, Gebrekristos Desta Centre, Addis Ababa.

Solo exhibitions

2008: Made in Ethiopia, GTZ Headquarters, Frankfurt, Germany .

2007: Facets, Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

2007: Made in Ethiopia, Engineering Capacity Building Program (ecbp), Addis Ababa.

2003: Out of the Blue, Goethe-Institute, Gebrekristos Desta Centre, Addis Ababa.

2002: Visions of Addis, Goethe-Institute, Gebrekristos Desta Center, Addis Ababa.

Publications

2009: Michael Tsegaye: Home grown Photography, www.abesha .com, February 18, 2009.

2009: Im blauen Lichtder Zukunft, DIE ZEIT, 29 January 2009.

2009: Ethiopia Shuts Down Coffee Exporters, New York Times Monday, April 6, 2009.

2008: Front cover, World Heritage Magazine, nos 51, October 2008.

2008: African Photography Encounters, Frieze magazine Issue 114, April 2008.

2007: BamakoVII. Rencontres Africaines de la Photographie : In the City and Beyond.

2006: Snap Judgments: Contemporary African Photography.

2006: Special mention in review of Snap Judgments exhibition, New Yorker magazine, April 24 edition.

2004 – 06: Pictures, including front cover, interviews and reviews in various Ethiopian media, including Fortune, Capital, Addis Zena, The Monitor and The Reporter newspapers.

2004: Front cover image African Politics magazine (France).

Education

1998 – 2002: Diploma in painting, Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design.

1993 – 96: BA Economics (not completed), Addis Ababa University.

Contact The Artist