ETHIOPIA TRIPTYCH (2023)

“Ethiopia Triptych” is a three-part collection of video essays ‒ Worship in Fire and Spirit, Worship of Earth and Togetherness, Merkato ‒ that were filmed during an independent field research conducted by Jatun Risba in central Ethiopia in the beginning of 2015. Jatun had previously spent 6 months in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2012-2013, where they emigrated with one large suitcase, one backpack, almost none personal income and one contact of reference at the beginning of their journey of self-healing from Multiple Sclerosis, in search for an inner transmutation that would facilitate a new start in life.

The video essays were realized thanks to the precious help provided by local friends: Melak Alemayehu, a theatre director and published poet, Fasika Wossenu and others. Fasika generously invited Jatun and Melak to a 5-days trip to his relatives, who were celebrating a traditional wedding ceremony in a remote village in the Oromo region that was accessible only by horses and had no water or electricity supplies. It was a magical, life-changing experience.

This independent, self-organized and self-funded research was born out of Risba’s desire to capture the beauty, social customs and warmth of an indigenous material culture that is in the process of being washed away by the economic and political processes of industrialization and globalisation. The work was made with the motivation to express the artist’s gratitude for a land, populace and culture where they felt immediately at ease and at home, to the bone.

አመሰግናለሁ (ameseginalehu) - Thank you, beloved Ethiopia!

Watch the trailers of the three video essays below.

The video essay "Worship in Spirit and Fire" was filmed during an independent field research about ancestral ceremonies, dances and Zār spirit possession rituals. The fieldwork was facilitated by the precious help provided by Melak Alemayehu and Fasika Wossenu.

The video essay "Worship of Earth and Togetherness" is the outcome of an independent field research on work songs, folk troubadours (azmari) and traditional social customs, rituals and festive events. Most of the recordings were shot in a remote village in the Oromo region, during a traditional wedding celebration. The fieldwork was facilitated by the precious help provided by Melak Alemayehu and Fasika Wossenu.

"Merkato" offers an insight into the social choreographies and the material culture of the Merkato marketplace in Addis Ababa. Merkato is the largest open-air market in Africa, covering several square miles and employing an estimated 13,000 people in 7,100 business entities. The filming was facilitated by the precious help and assistance provided by Melak Alemayehu and Ermiyas Alemu.