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Blue and Gray:
This Era of Exile
A Project Space* Exhibition
Artwork by Kebedech Tekleab
Poetry by E. Ethelbert Miller
Curated by David Keplinger
June 17 – August 13, 2023
E. Ethelbert Miller writes to the sculpture and poetry of Ethiopian artist Kebedech Tekleab, both shaping distance and dissonance into beauty.
Kebedech Tekleab, The Future Unfolding, 2019. Acrylic on mixed media, variable dimensions. Courtesy of the artist.
Exhibition Overview
The recent fratricidal war in Ethiopia; the constant turmoil in Somalia; the current wars between Russia and Ukraine; the war in Syria; the unrest in Iran, Israel, and Palestine; and so many other countries continue to be responsible for a massive loss of human life and the displacement of people.
Two artists–one born in the Bronx in New York City and another in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia–reflect on the nature of exile and spiritual resilience in this collaboration that treks across borders of media in poetry, sculpture, visual art, blues, and literary translation.
Visually and imaginatively stunning, these pairings aim to challenge our preconceptions about exile, engaging the "insider" exiled from safety in a structurally racist society in conversation with the "outsider," the exile/dissident, who has fled political strife to an academic position in the United States, but whose work still reflects an active hyper-vigilance against approaching danger.
*About Project Space.
Kebedech Tekleab, Crossing the Borders, 2018. Acrylic on mixed media, variable dimensions. Courtesy of the artist.
Kebedech Tekleab, Crossing the Borders (detail), 2018–2023. Acrylic on mesh, adjustable wall installation. Courtesy of the artist.
Gallery Talk: Blue and Gray: This Era of Exile
June 24, 2023, 2-3 p.m.
Speakers: Kebedech Tekleab: Artist and Poet; E. Ethelbert Miller: Poet
Moderator: David Keplinger, Professor, Department of Literature, American University
Host: Jack Rasmussen, Director, American University Museum
Explore viewpoints from two artists – one a former decade-long detainee in Somalia, one born in the Bronx with ties to the DMV – as they express their spiritual resilience in this collaboration that treks across borders with poetry, sculpture, visual art, blues, and literary translation.