The 2003 World Press Photo Exhibition @ the National Museum of Ethiopia
Ethiopian Press Photo Competition to follow soon
 

By Selome Kifle

Ambassador Teshome Toga, Minister of Sports, Youth and Culture will open the 2003 World Press Photo Exhibition, announced the Royal Netherland Embassy.
The exhibition will remain open until March 14, 2004 in the National Museum of Ethiopia.
The curator of the 2002 World Press Photo, Meskerem Assegued of Zoma Contemporary Art Center will curate the 2003 World Press Photo once again.
Last year on March 9, 2003, the Netherlands Embassy in Addis Ababa brought the 2002 World Press Photo (WPP) Exhibition, the most prestigious annual press photo exhibition to the National Museum of Ethiopia in Addis Ababa. During the three weeks, over 10,000 people came to see the exhibition. At the time, the Netherlands Embassy promised that the show would be brought again to Addis Ababa
Last year, as part of the educational program, the organizers of the 2002 World Press Photo Exhibition organized an essay contest in collaboration with the Unity University College’s journalism department and various high schools in Addis Ababa. This year, the organizers will collaborate with several international cultural institutes and Ethiopian journalism institutes to organize an Ethiopian Press Photo Competition, which will hopefully result in an Ethiopian Press Photo Exhibition. The opening date for this exhibition will be announced shortly.
World Press Photo exhibit is an independent non-profit organization, founded in the Netherlands in 1955. Its main aim is to support and promote internationally the work of professional press photographers. Over the years, World Press Photo has evolved into an independent platform for photojournalism and the free exchange of information. The organization operates under the patronage of H.R.H. Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.
Some of the images for the 2003 World Press Photo are posted on the website:

 www.worldpressphoto.nl

“Gulit” by Tadesse Mesfin

By Selome Kifle

The Alliance Ethio-Française is presenting an exhibition in its gallery under the title of ‘Gulit’ by the well known painter, Tadesse Mesfin.
In this exhibition the painter presents 42 works of art, masterpieces in the use of oil colors. In this exhibition Tadesse’s main enthusiasm seems to be on the activities of a small local market called Gulit, run by the beautiful women, who add color and life to the otherwise mundane commercial activity.
Using warm colors and brown as background that expresses the general image of the gulit to capture the eye of the viewer, the painter fills the market with images of women with long graceful necks standing, sitting together and interacting in their colorful setting. These sentiments are expressed by the precision of his brush strokes and long curved line he uses to paint his subjects.
The paintings titled, “In Between”, “After The Market”, “Young Graces”, “Inside the gate of Harar”, “Outskirt Gulit” catch one’s eyes because of their warm nature.
Capital learned that one of the paintings displayed at the Alliance is from a private collection from his previous works in 1996 while the other thirty-three represent his work in 2003.
Tadesse’s paintings are priced from 1,800 Birr to 37,000 Birr.
Artist Tadesse was born in the northern town of Woldiya, in 1953. From 1968 to 1972, he studied at the fine art school of Addis Ababa and graduated with great distinction. Then in 1977 he joined Leningrade Repin Academy of painting, Architecture and sculpture where he graduated in Honor and earned his masters (MFA) in 1984. In 1998, he was awarded the Ethiopian Fine Arts and Mass Media prize for Painting. He is currently an Instructor at the Fine Art and Design of the Addis Ababa University. Tadesse has participated in two single solo exhibitions (one in the U.S.A and one in Addis Ababa) and in many group shows locally and also in such countries as Nigeria (Festac’77), Czechoslovakia, Russia, Tunisia, China, Djibouti and France.
His paintings are found in Museums, private collections and plenty more within and outside of Ethiopia including Addis Ababa Museum, the former Chamber of Commerce headquarters, the National Theater, the British Council and the Addis Ababa Hilton Hotel.
The Exhibition under the Title of “Gulit” will remain open till February 28, 2004 for the public.

 “The Show Must Go on” by Mario Di Bari

By our staff reporter

A photo exhibition under the title of “The show must go on”, which illustrates the five years events of the Italian Cultural Institute seen through the eyes of an Italian photographer, Mario Di Bari was opened on Monday, February 16th 2004 at the Italian Cultural Institute.
Presenting 46 printed photos with a photo quality inkjet printer, Di Bari said that half of the exhibited photos are taken with a digital camera and the rests are filmed and scanned carefuly so as to achieve quality in his photographs.
He does not work as a photographer but he sometimes sells and publishes photographs. “Actually I am a teacher at the Italian School but I shoot photos as much as possible inside and outside the school. Mostly I like taking photos in theater shows, because I like the atmosphere and the light effect created by it. However I don’t like taking wedding pictures, because I prefer to take photos that have new ideas for me,” said Di Bari.
“At the exhibition there are some black & white photos that are breathtaking,” said one visitor. In reference to these he said he loves black & white photos but he decides according to the subject matter; for example he prefers to use black & white photos for music shows in general but color photos for Reggae music because he thinks that color is one integral part of Reggae.
For him, this exhibition is special because he has tried to keep the original atmosphere of the shows without using flashlights.
Capital asked why the theme “the show must go on” for the exhibition that focuses mostly on the Italian Cultural Institute, except for three pictures depicting the Alliance Française activities. He responded that those pictures were actually included because the event portrayed took place at the Italian Cultural Institute.
Mario Di Bari is a 48 year-old Italian national who teaches at the Italian School in Addis Ababa. He started to take photos at the age of 12, when his uncle gave him a camera as a gift. During his 5 years stay in Addis he has taken many photographs. In Italy he has published images of theater works for daily newspapers, magazines and books, and has participated in group exhibitions. In Ethiopia he has entered his photos in the project “The Italian in Amharic Language and the Ethiopian Culture” in corporation with Addis Ababa University and the Italian Cultural Institute for “The first weeks of the Italian Language in the world”. He has also taken part in the exhibition during the celebration of the “Human Right Day” that was organized by the Italian School.
Mario Di Bario is also the author of a photo reportage commissioned by the World Food Program about its projects in Ethiopia.