Gemma Brace
curator and writer

Exhibition curation and editor and contributing author for accompanying publication, Arnolfini, 2023.

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The first major solo European museum exhibition of one of Ethiopia’s leading contemporary artists, Elias Sime, Eregata እርጋታ introduced audiences to a man and maker of extraordinary craftsmanship and collaborative spirit.

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Eregata እርጋታ  focused on work from the past six years, including Sime’s monumental Venice Biennale commission Veiled Whispers (2022), alongside intricately woven abstract topographies from the landmark series Tightrope (2009 to present), key works from his early stitch, yarn and button series, and the tactile fragility of Bareness, a large-scale ceramic installation from 2014.

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The exhibition also explored Sime’s relationship to his own environment, and the inspirational collaborative project Zoma Museum, in the artist’s home city of Addis Ababa, founded by Sime and long-time collaborator and anthropologist Meskerem Assegued.

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See more info here.

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Images: Tightrope: Behind the Processor No.6 (detail), courtesy the artist, GRIMM & James Cohan, New York, photo Jonathan de Waart, Tightrope it is Green 8 (detail), courtesy the artist & James Cohan, New York, photo Phoebe d'Heurle, and Veiled Whispers (detail), courtesy the artist and James Cohan, New York, photo Thomas Barratt.

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