Aida Buzuayehu - International Community School of Addis Ababa

Aida Buzuayehu
000212009
EXTENDED
ESSAY
International Community School
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
Evaluate the effects of an oppressive
regime on women artists in Ethiopia.
Case Study: The Derg and Desta Hagos.

INTRODUCTION
Art has always been and always will be a significant part of my life. Since I was
an infant, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of different colors, techniques, shades,
and medias as well as the multiple forms of art including dance and music. It was due to
my current participation in higher level art as well as my continuous curiosity and love
for art that I decided to do my Extended Essay on Visual Arts. More specifically; I have
a constant obsession with Ethiopian contemporary and fine art. I’ve always shared an
undying passion for Ethiopian traditional crosses, ancient buildings, rock-hewn
churches, unique cultures and the various magnificent cities that reside in the beautiful
but isolated country, Ethiopia. Given the overall beauty that Ethiopia consists of, like
every other nation, discrimination against gender was and to a certain extent still is a
huge part of Ethiopian society. As a female with a great amount of passion for art this
topic has had a powerful effect on me due to my feminist views and my aspiration to
further promote women’s rights on the grounds of social, political and economic
equality to men. This lead me to further investigate the difficulty and hardship female
artists faced due to the communist military gang that came to power in Ethiopia in the
1900’s, also known as the Derg. This topic is significant because discrimination against
women isn’t advocated or promoted on a wide spectrum here in Ethiopia, thus making
this topic worthy of investigation. Henceforth the evaluation of the effects of an
oppressive regime, also known as the Derg, on female artists in Ethiopia is
exceedingly essential.
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HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Derg was a communist military party that came to power in Ethiopia after
Emperor Haile Sellasie had temporarily left Ethiopia. It then ruled the country from
1974 until 1987. ‘Derg’ in Amharic means ‘committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and
Territory Army’ (Zewde, 55). It was these people that executed and imprisoned
thousands of its rivals without a legitimate trial. The Derg was officially announced
June 28 1974 by a group of military officers in order to maintain law and order. The
cause of this perpetual dilemma is the impotency of the government following major
decline in the armed forces of Ethiopia earlier that year. However the members of the
Derg were not directly involved in this insurrection nor were this the first military
committee established. In addition, over the following months revolutionary groups in
the Ethiopian military came to the conclusion that the Emperor was acting on behalf of
the hated aristocracy, and when a group of notables petitioned for the release of a
number of government ministers and officials who were under arrest for corruption and
other crimes, the announcement of the Derg occurred (Zewde, 56). Although the
emperor at the time was Emperor Haile Sellasie, there were in fact many other key
figures in the regime. Oppressors such as Empress Taitu, Mengistu Haile Maryam as
well as his wife etc, were vital people that caused major events in Ethiopian history. In
the context of Ethiopia, Eastern Africa and Africa in general a woman in power is often
an unsightly scenario. Women were oppressed and discriminated against for many
years. However it hasn’t always been this way, in fact before the Derg women were
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‘equals’. Prior to 1974, women in Ethiopia were powerful and influential (Zewde, 56).
Empress Taitu, was brought up in an aristocratic family where her father was famously
known as Emperor Betul Haile Maryam. His daughter, Empress Taitu’s grandmother,
was the daughter of Emperor Guga, the ruling family in the Oromo region. Evidently
the Empress Taitu was a direct descendant of a royal family, of which most were women
in power. After several failed marriages, Empress Taitu Betul married King Menelek of
Shewa and later Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (Zewde 60). Empress Taitu was known
for her considerable political power as the wife of Menelek. Citizens were convinced
that it was because of the head figure in place at the time, Haile Sellasie. Due to this
controversy, students, most of which were art students protested through the streets of
Addis for the emperor to be changed (Zewde, 58). Shamefully, women artists never
have been and currently aren’t very popular or common in the 20 th century. Desta
Hagos, the first female artist to attain her own gallery in Ethiopia, has set the standard
for other female artists here in Ethiopia. She has become an inspiration to many and
continues to undertake and execute beautiful art till this day.
Opening ceremony of one of Desta
Hagos' solo exhibition at the Hilton Hotel,
1994
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INTRODUCING THE ARTIST
Desta Hagos was born in 1952 in a city by the name of Adwa. At the age of nine,
she moved to the capital, Addis Ababa with her family and was enrolled in the Etege
Menen Middle School (Woldearege, 16). She began to fall in love with art at the age of
five when she used to pick flowers from the garden to look at. “When I was just a tiny
child I remember that I adored flowers and plants, and I loved to cut flowers so that I
could look at and preserve their beauty at home,” she said while reminiscing her
merciless love and cruel affection for beauty and colors. It was her father, one of her
greatest muses in life that amended her atrocious habits. Her father would tell her,
“Don’t kill the flowers; they have life like you. I will buy you coloring pencils and you
can draw them exactly as they were alive.” (Woldearege, 16). Desta Hagos had a
‘beautiful, love-filled and happy’ childhood while growing up in Ethiopia with four
other siblings (Hagos, March 2011). At the age of fourteen, Hagos entered the
International Children’s Arts Competition organized by the Indian embassy and won
first place. She submitted three paintings, two of which were a landscape painting and
one of a blind man (Hagos, March 2011).
“Blind Man”
Desta Hagos
Tempera on paper
1966
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Desta Hagos
Graduation Day, 1969
Similar to her father, Desta Hagos
enjoyed listening to music and poetry as
well as watching drama productions. The
‘kirar’, an Ethiopian instrument that
replicates the sound of a violin, had a
positive effect on her artwork. Music,
theater, dancing and performing arts in
general influenced Desta’s art greatly.
Desta Hagos, a talented artist grew up and
received her diploma in Fine Arts in 1969 from
the Fine Arts school. Soon after her graduation
from the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts, she
was recognized as the first Ethiopian female
artist to do a solo painting exhibition in
Ethiopia. Desta commented that it was due to
her love of music and the arts that she was able
to gain such a title as she always uses music as a
temperament in her artwork. “Listening to music
has always been a backdrop for my artistic
temperament,” (Hagos, May 2011).
Desta Hagos performing at the
University Cultural Center, 1967
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Desta Hagos at CLU, 1971
Aside from this, one of her greatest
inspirations and mentors in life was the
infamous artist Gebre Kirstos Desta. Again
being the only female, a couple years later
she opened an art studio with four
accomplished male artists at the University
where she experienced becoming an actress.
“I had no idea what I was doing. I just used
to love watching plays. But artist Debebe
Eshetu and the late Wogayehu Negatu
encouraged me to try my hand at it,” (Hagos,
May 2011). In January 1970, after several attempts at careers in performing arts, Desta
traveled to the United States to attend the California Lutheran University (CLU) where
she graduated with a B.A degree in Fine Arts. During a relaxed interview, when asked to
describe her personality, she responded by saying, “I’ve always been a very social
person; I had many friends all over the world. One of my friends in California has
named her first blue-eyed, blonde daughter ‘Desta’ after me”. Clearly Desta was a
cheerful person and a joy to be around. It was theses characteristics that allowed her to
always end up amongst the top as the only female.
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During her enrollment at the university, Desta won a full scholarship during her
second year, which enabled her to participate in four exhibitions during her four years
of study at CLU (Mimi, 16). Two of the four exhibitions she accomplished on her own,
at this time, an Ethiopian female artist with her own exhibition was a tremendous
accomplishment, at least for Desta’s family (Teferra, 32). In 1975, Desta was yearning
to return to her home country however in the middle of victory tragedy awaited her. She
returned only to find her country afflicted by oppression and political tension. To make
matters worse, the life of her ex-husband had been threatened so he had to leave the
country. Shortly after his departure she learned that she was pregnant with his child.
Once more, she was a lone woman in a distressing society, which caused her to
temporarily put her art career on hold. She joined the Ethiopian Tourist Organization in
“Pounding Pepper”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic and Tempera on canvas
1982
1976 and worked there until 1986 where she transferred to
the Ethiopian Tourist Trading Enterprise as Acting Head of
the Promotion and Public Relations of the Artistic
Department for many years (Mimi, 16). Fortunately after,
her painting “Pounding Pepper”, a painting demonstrating a
domestic scene that depicts women with infants tied to their
backs while pounding pepper; a common sight in Ethiopia,
was selected among other works of art from thirteen other
African countries to be displayed in the Contemporary
African Art Exhibition in Canada (Teferra, 32).
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An oppressive regime was not conducive to artistic development in Ethiopia as
she was only able to do a few group exhibitions during the two decades in which the
Derg situated. Undeniably, there were very few female artists in Ethiopia due to many
circumstances. “The current situation in Ethiopia is not very encouraging. The lack of
economic growth is by itself an obstacle to the development of art. Artists are generally
not well paid and society is quick to discourage them, especially if they are female.
Women are taught to underestimate their own values and abilities so that it takes not
only talent but also a great love for the art to continue working in this
profession” (Teferra, 32). Desta Hagos believes that females have important roles in
Ethiopian society. “Art goes hand in hand with the development of society. In Ethiopia
there was a great restriction against artistic expression during the previous regime,
which isn’t the case anymore. The newfound freedom has allowed more artists to come
out but there is still a lot to be done. Woman artists can contribute greatly to society and
their works are often educational, they might for example reflect the constraint imposed
on women from expressing themselves. Also art helps create confidence in our
culture” (Teferra, 32). Despite her gender, Hagos was a fighter. Although the regime
had changed many aspects of peoples lives, by talking land from people and
imprisoning random citizens, in 1994 Hagos held her first solo exhibition in decades. “I
worked day and night in order to display my paintings; I missed not showing my art for
so long” (Hagos, May 2011). Later she began participating in several more exhibitions
with famous contemporary Ethiopian artists known as Maitre Artist Afework Tekle, one
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of the most famous male artists at the time. Desta
Hagos is a skilled fine artist as she uses music as
her most prominent source of inspiration while
producing works of abstract and semi-abstract.
“Most of my works are semi-abstract and I use
Ethiopian landscapes and day-to-day life as my
subject matter” (Hagos, March 2010). “…Desta
shows both a high degree of technical ability both
rare and essential in an artist. She can make you stop and look. She can even make you
see…” (Ethiopian Herald, 1969)
Maitre Artist Afework Tekle, with
Desta Hagos
"Landscape"
Desta Hagos
Oil on canvas
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Henceforth, Desta Hagos is a remarkable woman. Circumstances and conditions beyond
her control obligated her to face the world alone, and become a single mother. In both
her career and her personal life, she was and still is one of the most successful and
respected artists in Ethiopia. Despite the complications and disadvantages that the Derg
imposed onto Desta Hagos, women and society in general, she was able to maintain her
beautiful sense of worth as well as her promising and optimistic frame of mind.
"Semi Abstract"
Desta Hagos
Oil on canvas
10

LOOKING AT HER PAINTINGS
Desta Hagos often features flowers in her paintings in order to convey the theme
of feminism through the delicate and lurid look that flowers express.
In this painting, Desta Hagos depicts her incessant love for flowers. The colors used
exemplify life itself. Her father used to say “Don’t kill the flowers, they have life like
you…”(Woldearege, 16). Her father’s advice influenced this piece greatly. Hagos uses a
total of five colors to accomplish this piece; green, yellow, white, red and blue which
ultimately gives the painting a more simple yet immensely complex meaning to it.
“Flowers”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
1982
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“Exile” is another piece by Desta Hagos that depicts African refugees fleeing their
homes, families and friends as a result of a man-made disaster. Here Desta Hagos
employs historical context while giving reference to man-made disasters, The Derg. As
shown in the painting, Hagos only features female characters in this painting in order to
continually address the theme of feminism.
“Exile”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
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It’s a national tradition in Ethiopia to invite all you friends for a cup of coffee and
some popcorn. Women in Ethiopia usually bond over a cup of coffee. Buna be Weray
features several women talking. They all look happy but in reality they all have
miserable lives at home and they get together once in a while in order to escape their
lives, even if its just for a short while. Buna be Wetet meaning coffee with milk is a very
common beverage to drink at home usually on Sundays with popcorn. The title of this
piece however is Buna be Weray meaning "coffee with gossip".
“Buna Be Weray”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
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In Conspiracy by Desta Hagos, the expression on the protagonists face depicts intrigue,
controversy and quarrel. Her face at first glance looks like she’s smiling but instead you
see sadness and scheme. The fact that there are only girls in the painting denotes the fact
that all women are feeling the same way and going through the same emotions.
“Conspiracy”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
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Abeba another piece by Desta Hagos is another flower piece. Abeba in Amharic
means flower. It’s featuring a beautiful white daisy, which signifies purity and
feminism. The fact that there are leaves and stems covering the flowers beauty so that
the full beauty is hidden symbolizes the fact that society didn’t let women show their
full potential. Woman aren’t granted the same opportunities and privileges as men.
Going back to fact that women did not have as many rights as men and were not
considered equals.
“Abeba”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
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This piece is a telltale in the sense that it automatically gives a visual indication of
women’s’ melancholy. The young girl in this piece, the protagonist of the painting is
trying to write something but is unable to because her candle keeps burning out. There’s
a person in the left hand corner that keeps blowing the candle out and there are lots of
used matches all over the table depicting the amount of times she’s tried. In this piece I
believe Desta Hagos was trying to personify the misfortune, suffering and tribulation
that females went through due to their gender. The person blowing out the candle
personifies society as it never gave women a chance but us women, despite our
adversity as shown by the young girls tears never gave up, hence the amount of
matches.
“Melancholy”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
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Hasab by Desta Hagos features a young woman in deep, complex thought. Hagos
makes it semi abstract for the purpose of depicting the complexity and abstract of her
thoughts. It’s a woman instead of a man because women encountered hardship not men.
Henceforth the Derg clearly influenced her art
“Hasab”
Desta Hagos
Acrylic on canvas
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OTHER FEMALE ARTISTS
In this comparison I examine other Ethiopian contemporary female artists that
perhaps experienced similar problems to Desta Hagos. Artists that paint traditionally
and those taught in the academic and fine arts traditions. What these women have in
common is the strength they’ve acquired in order to become artists as well as the
challenges and hardships inflicted by a competitive, male-dominated market
(Tecklemichael, 1). Another similarity these women might have is their relatively
similar themes in most of their work that feature women as the main subject or
protagonist of the piece. Similar to fine artist Desta Hagos, these women that I will later
further examine, utilize their art as a way to signify the relationship between “the
production of art and the exercise of social or political power”,(Teklemichael, 1). In
other words they used their art as a way to achieve their goal of success (Teklemichael,
2) but at the same time to enhance their significance and influence in society.
Henceforth women used their art as a cry for help or recognition in a male-dominated
society while making ‘women’ the subject matter of their pieces. Desta Hagos uses
flowers and female characters as the subject matter in most of her art while using
abstract and semi-abstract techniques. As previously stated, women have been the
subject matter of various art pieces whether they’re religious or non religious.
As journalist Makeda Tecklemichel mentioned in her article Contemporary
women artists in Ethiopia, “St Mary plays the role of mother, Brutawit as a victim
waiting to be saved by St George, the queen of Sheba as a royal woman used to
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legitimize the solomonic dynasty, and ordinary women as housewives and helpmates of
men, who all hold a significant place in Ethiopian art”. In summary, most of the art
work during this era had hidden messages that reveled daily life as well as the daily
activities and pursuit of the average Ethiopian Christian woman. All of these women
weren’t given the opportunity to get proper art training due to various unfortunate
circumstances. Instead they were to stay home and fulfill household tasks while
receiving theological education simultaneously. Its crucial however to note that these
women although not given the same opportunities as men, in terms of a higher
education, were active advocates of other creative traditions typically produced by
women (Teklemichael, 4). Things like pottery, basket making, textile weaving and
embroidery. Sadly the people that produce these fabulous items are very rarely
considered ‘artists’ (Teklemichael, 4).
The five contemporary artists I have chosen to examine go by the names of
Woyzero Lemlem Gebremeskal, Emahoy Wolate-Yohannes Sebehatu, Yordanos
Berhanemeskal, Elizabeth Habte-Wolde and Merikokeb Berhanu. Woyzero Lemlems’
love for art like most artists began at a young age. “She began painting by using
charcoal to draw pictures of animals and people on the mud walls of her
house” (Teklemichael, 5). It was a priest passing by her home that discovered her talent
and advised her to travel from her village to the nearest city to pursue her dreams of
becoming an artist. Although Woyzero Zelalem lacked former art training as well as a
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proper mentor, she didn’t let her gender or lack of proper materials stand in her way. It’s
for these reasons that I believe she’s similar to Desta Hagos. The second artist, Emahoy
Wolate-Yohannes Sebehatu fell in love with fine art as an adolescent who decided to
become a nun, hence the prefix in her name ‘Emahoy’ which means nun in Amharic.
She acquired her artistic skills while receiving theological education in one of the
Churches located on Lake Tana. Similar to Desta Hagos and Woyzero Lemlem
Gebremeskal, Emahoy grew up in a town without any painters or mentors which made
it more difficult to pursue an art career with the additional burden of being female.
However, Emahoy Wolate-Yohannes stood firm in her belief that painting is a gift from
God and He gives this gift to both men and women (Teklemichael, 5).
Desta Hagos posing next to her artworks
Yordnos Berhanemeskal, the third artist
I’ve chosen to introduce was born into an art family,
unlike the other artists. Her father was the best-
known artist of her time as she grew up surrounded
by traditional and religious art, which has positively
affected her. Her biggest inspiration, similar to Desta
Hagos, was her father as she would sit behind him
while he was painting and imitate the art he produced
when he wasn’t home (Teklemicheal, 5). Yordanos is one of very few women that has
received proper art training and has graduated from the School of Fine Arts with a
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degree in art. The fourth artist, Elizabeth Habte-Wolde, was one of those girls who
picked up a paintbrush one day and just began painting. She was born with a natural
gift. Similar to Yordanos she’s received a higher education in Howard University and is
now a successful artist, few women get this chance. Lastly, Merikokeb Berhanu, the
youngest of the five had a slightly different passion. She would practice drawing from
still life and models. Merikokeb’s passion resembles that of Desta Hagos’s in the sense
that she would draw from still life. Desta Hagos’s passion was fueled when she spent
most of her youth years trying to replicate flowers on paper. Ultimately, what all these
women have in common is the various difficulties they had to overcome to reach the
same goal.
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CONCLUSION
In conclusion Desta Hagos and her experiences have influenced many people in
Ethiopia. Her daughter; her greatest inspiration, exemplifies the daughter of a hard
working woman, the first female artist in Ethiopia to have her own gallery, a powerful,
determining and well grounded human being. The Ethiopian revolution had a significant
effect on the works of female artist Desta Hagos, and has influenced her work her life
and her family to a great extent. Fine artist Desta Hagos set up her own destiny with her
stubborn and heavy desire for art. She gained a respectable reputation in Ethiopia as a
strong-willed ‘habesha’. The Derg totally influenced Desta's persona and the way she
thinks as a human being. Throughout her adolescent years she was a social vibrant
young woman, with an incessant passion for life itself. The Derg, the climax of her story
changed everything around her, and today Desta is a woman that was affected by the
revolution with a powerful story to tell. She is a strong woman, had it not been for her
fearless behavior and the belief she had in herself, she wouldn’t be where she is today.
Henceforth The Derg affected women artists greatly in the sense that it caused women
to second-guess their potential, qualifications, capabilities and opportunities as females
in an oppressive regime.
Word Count: 3742
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2010, Sheraton Addis
Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2011, Sheraton Addis
Abebaw Ayalew. 2002. A History of Painting in Eastern Gojjam in the 18 th 19 th
Centuries: A Study of the ‘Second Gondarine’ Style of painting in selected churches and
Monasteries. MA thesis, Addis Ababa University.
Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 24 March 2011.
Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 16 April 2011.
Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 4 May 2011.
Hagos, Desta and Teferra, Sehin. “Woman Artist in Ethiopia”. Desta Hagos Articles.
(2007). Print.
Teshome Gebre Mariam. The Ethiopian Herald June 1 1969, seventh edition:EHP.
Teklemichael, Makeda. “Contemporary Women Artist in Ethiopia”. 2008. http://
www.questiaschool.com/reader/printPaginator
Woldearege, Mimi. “A unique female artist”.Desta Hagos Article. (2009)
Teferra, Sehin. “Desta Hagos Tecle”. Desta Hagos Article.
Seyoum Wolde. 1998 “Sonic Aspects of Post Revolution Visual Arts in Ethiopia.
“Proceedings of the International Congress of Ethiopian Studies, pp. 7-25. Moscow:
Nauka Publishers
Zewde, Baharu. 1980. A History of Modern Ethiopia. MA Thesis.Addis Ababa
University.
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ICONOGRAPHY
“Abeba”, Desta Hagos, acrylic. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2011, Sheraton Addis
“Blind Man”, Desta Hagos, tempera, 1966. Mimi Woldearege. Desta Hagos Article. A
unique female artist.
“Buna be Weray”, Desta Hagos, acrylic, Art of Ethiopia Gallery. August 2010, Sheraton
Addis
“Conspiracy”, Desta Hagos, acrylic and tempera. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2010,
Sheraton Addis
Desta Hagos, Graduqtion Day, 1969
Desta Hagos performing at the University Cultural Center, 1967
Desta Hagos at CLU, 1971
Desta Hagos posing next to her art works.
“Exile”, Desta Hagos, tempera and acrylic. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2010,
Sheraton Addis
“Figure 1”, Desta Hagos, semi-abstract. Mimi Woldearege. Desta Hagos Aricle. A
unique female artist.
“Figure 2”, Desta Hagos, landscape. Mimi Woldearege. Desta Hagos Aricle. A unique
female artist.
“Flowers”, Desta Hagos, acrylic on canvas, 1982. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August
2010, Sheraton Addis
“Hasab”, Desta Hagos, acrylic. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2011, Sheraton Addis
Maitre Artist Afework Tekle, with Desta Hagos
¨Melancholy¨, Desta Hagos, acrylic on canvas. Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 16
April 2011.
Opening ceremony of one of Desta Hagos` solo exhibitions at the Hilton Hotel, 1994
“Pounding Pepper”, Desta Hagos, acrylic and tempera,1982. Sehin Teffera. Desta
Hagos Article. Woman Artist in Ethiopia.
¨Semi Abstract¨, Desta Hagos, oil on canvas. Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 4 May
2011
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