Sophie Ong on Curating Ethiopia’s Artistic Dialogues Across Millennia and Its Resonance in the Digital Age
Courtesy of Toledo Museum of Art
Focusing on Ethiopia’s ancient artistic traditions through the lens of contemporary art, the exhibition highlights Ethiopia’s role as a cultural hub at the crossroads of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Sophie Ong, the Assistant Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Toledo Museum of Art and curator of ‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’, discusses her latest exhibition.
Sophie also oversees the 2024 Digital Artist in Residency Program, which supports innovative intersections of art and technology. In this interview, she dives into the curatorial vision behind the exhibition, the challenges of selecting over 220 works spanning 1,750 years, and how contemporary Ethiopian artists contribute to the global narrative. The exhibition showcases Ethiopia’s artistic legacy and emphasises its modern relevance through digital art, preserving cultural memory in new and innovative ways.
ART AFRICA: What was the vision behind the “Ethiopia at the Crossroads” exhibition, which focuses on Ethiopia’s ancient artistic traditions through contemporary art?
Sophie Ong: Situated in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia boasts a history that spans millennia, enriched by its strategic position along vital waterways and trade routes. The vision behind ‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ was to present Ethiopia as a cultural hub at the intersection of Africa, Asia, and Europe, highlighting its artistic exchanges with regions like South Arabia, Egypt, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and India. By showcasing Ethiopian works alongside those from other cultures, the exhibition emphasises the breadth and legacy of these cross-cultural interactions. The final section, Global Ethiopia, visualises how Ethiopia’s historical, artistic and religious traditions continue to thrive within and across its diaspora. Spanning nearly 2,000 years, the exhibition traces Ethiopian creativity from antiquity to contemporary digital art in the Web3 era, celebrating the country’s lasting contribution to global art history.
Courtesy of Toledo Museum of Art.
How were the works selected to highlight Ethiopia’s influence across three continents and its artistic connections with neighbouring cultures, such as the Roman Empire, Coptic Egypt, and Byzantium?
To bring ‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads to life’, we partnered with world-renowned institutions, including the Walters Art Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Institute of Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa, and private lenders from around the globe. These extraordinary Ethiopian artworks are complemented by remarkable loans from the Morgan Library and Getty Museum, representing cultures such as Coptic Egypt, Byzantium, and Armenia. In total, more than 225 historical and contemporary works come together to illustrate centuries of artistic exchange across Africa, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Indian Ocean,
How did you approach curating over 220 works spanning 1,750 years, and were there any specific challenges in representing historical and contemporary Ethiopian art?
As a curator, the exciting thing about showcasing such a wide range of objects is that there’s something for everyone in the exhibition. As far as we know, this exhibition is the first to bring together ancient art and NFTs, offering an exciting opportunity to explore the enduring connections between past and present. For example, TMA’s recently acquired 4th-3rd century BCE alabaster funerary sculpture from South Arabia reflects ancient practices of memorialisation, which resonate with the blockchain-based digital art of Yatreda, TMA’s 2024 Digital Artist in Residence. Yatreda mints its digital art on blockchain as a modern way of preserving cultural memory. By merging ancient and contemporary art, the exhibition demonstrates how Ethiopian artists honour their heritage while embracing innovative technologies to ensure Ethiopia’s legacy continues to evolve and endure.
Courtesy of Toledo Museum of Art.
The challenge in highlighting Ethiopia’s rich artistic heritage from antiquity to the present was creating a cohesive narrative and design that seamlessly connects historical and contemporary art. We were fortunate to collaborate with Isometric Studio to design an extraordinary space that underscores the exhibition’s crossroads theme and creates a seamless flow between the different periods, allowing us to highlight the lasting influence of Ethiopia’s artistic traditions. It was important to me to spotlight specific historical moments across Ethiopia’s history while emphasising the artistic threads that span time.
In what ways do contemporary artists like Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian, Theo Eshetu, and Helina Metaferia contribute to the narrative of Ethiopia’s growing global influence within the exhibition?
Contemporary artists like Alexander “Skunder” Boghossian, Theo Eshetu, Aïda Muluneh and Merikokeb Berhanu bring Ethiopia’s artistic legacy into dialogue with today’s global conversations about identity, migration, and modernisation. Boghossian, a pioneer of modern Ethiopian art, drew on his Ethiopian and Armenian roots to create works exploring identity and cultural heritage. Eshetu, Muluneh, and Berhanu, all now part of the Ethiopian diaspora, continue this dialogue, using their art to address themes like migration, belonging, and the impacts of modernisation. By incorporating their work into the exhibition, we underscore that Ethiopia’s artistic traditions are not confined to history—they are alive and relevant, continuing to shape today’s global artistic landscape.
Can you elaborate on the significance of recent acquisitions, such as the Ethiopian icon dating back to around 1500, and its place within the exhibition?
Recent acquisitions at the Toledo Museum of Art reflect our growing commitment to broadening the narrative of art history by bringing Ethiopian art into the spotlight. From our acquisition of a nineteenth-century processional cross in 2006 to more recent purchases of the monumental Tightrope, Zooming In by Elias Sime in 2018, a medieval psalter and icon for the museum’s Cloister Gallery in 2021, and this year, contemporary photography and sculpture by Aïda Muluneh and Helina Metaferia, TMA has been committed to bringing art from Ethiopia and its diaspora into the spotlight. ‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ is a continuation of that commitment, offering our audience a chance to explore the richness and complexity of Ethiopian art and its pivotal role in world history.
Elias Sime (Ethiopian, Born 1968), Tightrope, Zooming In, 2012, reclaimed electronic components and assorted small ephemera on panel, 83 1/2 Å~ 313 in., Toledo Museum of Art, Purchased with funds from the Florence Scott Libbey Bequest in Memory of her Father, Maurice A. Scott, 2018.
The painted icon from around 1500 that depicts King Lalibäla and Queen Mäsqäl Kǝbra, was created nearly 300 years after the king’s death, highlighting Lalibäla’s renown as a devout ruler long after his death. His legacy is best visualised today in the famed rock-cut churches he is believed to have commissioned. Many of TMA’s contemporary acquisitions also explore themes of history and cultural memory. Aïda Muluneh’s The 99 Series was commissioned in 2013 for the exhibition ‘The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists’. Drawing inspiration from Dante’s epic poem, The 99 Series delves into the concept of the inferno, juxtaposed with Muluneh’s personal background and intertwining of past and present.
How does the exhibition address the preservation and adaptation of Ethiopian art and culture over centuries, considering Ethiopia’s unique cultural heritage and history as the only African nation never colonised?
‘Ethiopia at the Crossroads’ visualises the story of a nation that has long been at the intersection of civilisations while maintaining a unique cultural identity grounded in its unparalleled history as the only African nation never colonised. The exhibition highlights the longevity of Ethiopia’s artistic heritage, drawing on historical works like manuscripts, icons, and crosses that showcase its deep religious and artistic roots and continue to be produced today for the Ethiopian church. At the same time, the digital art of Yatreda reveals how Ethiopian artists are embracing new technologies to continue this legacy. Yatreda’s blockchain-based artwork serves as a modern form of cultural preservation, ensuring Ethiopia’s artistic traditions flourish in the digital era and survive for another 2,000 years. The exhibition also includes four “Conservation Stories” that spotlight new discoveries born from the extensive technical study and conservation of Ethiopian art by conservators at the Walters Art Museum.
Kiya Tadele, creative director of House of Yatreda, speaks as museum employees take part in an Ethopian coffee ceremony at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Glass Pavilion in Toledo on Friday, Aug. 16, 2024. THE BLADE/KURT STEISS.
How have visitors received the exhibition, and what impact has it had on their understanding of Ethiopian art and culture?
The response to the exhibition has been overwhelmingly positive, with visitors expressing a newfound appreciation for Ethiopia’s extraordinary cultural, geographic, and artistic diversity. The multisensory installation House of Yatreda has particularly captivated audiences. Exhibited for the first time, the four monumental slow-motion black-and-white artworks that makeup Yatreda’s Abyssinian Queen in the House of Yatreda provide a visceral contemporary lens through which to engage with Ethiopia’s rich history.
The exhibition is on view until the 10th of November, 2024. For more information, please visit the Toledo Museum of Art.
