Dawit Abebe was born in 1978 in Addis Ababa. Dawit Abebe graduated from the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Art and Design with a diploma in painting, sculpture, graphics, photography and industrial design. Since 2001, Dawit Abebe has been a full-time artist in residence at the Habesha Art Studio in his native Ethiopia, and has also worked with UNICEF to hold workshops for street children in Arba Minch, Jinka and Addis Ababa.
“My inspirations come from the stories, fleeting moments, social, political and human-technology interactions – be them constructive or destructive – which, in turn I reflect on in my art by posing them as questions. A sort of social criticism, if you will, my senses and artist’s instincts are drawn to that which I can experiment with, and then process into works of art that I hope will draw questions in myself, as well as society in general.”
– Dawit Abebe
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- ‘EDIT’, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020);
- Mutual Identity, Addis Fine Art Gallery, Addis Ababa (2018);
- Liminal in the age of Mobile-ty, 68 Projects, Berlin (2018);
- “Quo Vadis?” , Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2017);
- Background 2, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2015);
- Background 1, Lela Gallery, Addis Ababa (2014)
- X Privacy, Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa (2012)
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- Karachi Biennial (2019);
- 1:54 Contemporary African Arts Fair, London (2019);
- Kubatana, Vestfossen Kunskaboratorium, Norway (2019);
- 1:54 Contemporary African Arts Fair, London (2018);
- Background 1, Lela Gallery, Addis Ababa (2014)
- X Privacy, Alliance Ethio-Française, Addis Ababa (2012)
- Imago Mundi, Trieste, at Salone degli Incanti, Italy (2018);
- VOLTA13, Markthalle, Basel (2017);
- Everything Exists Now, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2017);
- Art Dubai, with Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Dubai (2017).
Other Major Solo Exhibitions
What about Africa?, Witteveen Visual Art Centre, Amsterdam (2016); Pangaea II: New Art from Africa and Latin America, Saatchi Gallery, London (2015); Concerning The Internal at Circle Art Gallery, Nairobi (2015); Visibles/Invisibles, Fondation Blachere, Apt (2015); the display of the Habesha Art Collection at the National Museum in Addis Ababa (2014), and the touring exhibition Silver Sea Cross-Ship (2013-14).
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In 2014, one of the works from Dawit Abebe’s X Privacy series sold for double its estimate at a major auction of East African art in Nairobi, Kenya. Dawit Abebe work is held in international private and public collections, including the Barjeel Art Foundation (UAE), the Rema Hort Mann Foundation (US), the Frank Cohen Collection (UK), the Carole Server and Oliver Frankel Collection (US), The Beth Rudin Dewoody Collection (US), Ilham Collection (Malaysia) and the Saatchi Gallery Collection (UK). Dawit Abebe continues to gain international recognition.
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