Maheder Haileselassie Tadese (born 1990) is an Ethiopian artist and photographer. She won the 2023 Contemporary African Photography Prize and she was chosen as one of the BBC's 100 inspiring women in 2024 as a "climate pioneer".
Maheder Haileselassie | |
|---|---|
 self-portrait | |
| Born | 1990 |
| Nationality | Ethiopian |
| Known for | leading photographer and artist |
Life
editHaileselassie was born and raised in Addis Ababa in 1990.[1][2] She was at university studying civil engineering. Her interest became photography in her final year when she took photos of her friends with her Blackberry phone. In the following year she upgraded to an IPhone and by 2013 her primary interest was photography.[3]
She runs the Center for Photography to encourage younger photographers in Ethiopia.[4] She has criticised the work of photographer Mahesh Shantaram who has tried to document the effect of colonialism, but she finds his work problematic as she feels that he creates poses that are for the pleasure of the viewer. She thinks this is a colonial view where women are needlessly naked to fascinate a western audience.[5]
Haileselassie won the 2023 Contemporary African Photography Prize.[4][6] The other four winning photographers were Nadia Ettwein, Yassmin Forte, Carlos Idun-Tawiah and Léonard Pongo.[7]
The African Photography Encounters 14th biennial takes the theme “Kuma, La Parole” (Kuma, the Word). The artistic director is Lassana Igo Diarra with a team that includes Nadine Hounkpatin, Manthia Diawara, Soufiane Er-Rahoui, Oyindamola (Fakeye) Faithfull and Patrick Mudekereza.[8][9] The thirty artists selected for the group exhibition titled La Panafricane include Haileselassie, Bernard Akoi-Jackson of Ghana, Jeannette Ehlers of Denmark and Trinidad and Tobago and the Moroccan Mounir Fatmi (Morocco).[8]
She was chosen as one of the BBC's 100 inspiring women in 2024. The BBC and[6] The Guardian drew attention to her work in 2024 where she documents the effect of climate change on young girls. The rate of child marriage in Somalia had more than doubled as families try to cope with the shortage of food and water. Her photographs show the girls and they document the effect of the drought on the landscape.[10]
References
edit- ^ "Maheder Haileselassie - Overview". Koop Projects. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ "Ethiopian Photographer". Maheder Haileselassie Tadese/Female Ethiopian Photographer. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ "Maheder Haileselassie Tadese: Emerging Ethiopian photographer". Ethiopia Observer. 14 October 2016. Retrieved 2024-12-05.
- ^ a b "Maheder Haileselassie". Prince Claus Fund. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ Shringarpure, Bhakti; Cantelli, Veruska (2023-04-30). Insurgent Feminisms: Writing War. Zubaan. ISBN 978-93-90514-58-8.
- ^ a b "BBC 100 Women 2024: Who is on the list this year? - BBC News". News. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ "Contemporary African Photography prize 2023 winners – in pictures". The Guardian. 2023-07-28. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-12-04.
- ^ a b Rédaction, La (2024-08-25). ""Visual conversations in Bamako": discover the artists selected for the 14th Biennale Africaine de la Photographie !". ON ART MEDIA. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ "Mali: la biennale de la photo de Bamako s'ouvre avec le thème de la «parole» en question". RFI (in French). 2024-11-16. Retrieved 2024-11-17.
- ^ "Ethiopian drought and child marriage – in portraits". The Guardian. 2023-10-10. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-12-04.