Adera, Lije; Adera Lijen (አደራ ልጄ፤ አደራ፣ ልጄን): a promise to protect delves into the tapestries of nostalgia, acculturation, familial structures, and the identity conflicts that emerge as individuals in diasporic communities following displacement and migration
Central to Adera, Lije; Adera Lijen (አደራ ልጄ፤ አደራ፣ ልጄን) is the examination of the conflicting longing faced by these communities: the desire to be embraced by a society that often views them as different, while simultaneously yearning for a deeper connection with the ancestral cultures and countries from which they hail.
This duality is central in the experience of navigating a language that sometimes feels borrowed, as Virginia poet Elsa Lakew explores, and a lineage that, despite geographical and cultural distances, continues to tether individuals to their familial roots, as Minneapolis painters Bereket Adamu, Nafyar, and ceramicist addisalem alemu consider.
Through a collection of works by these artists, Adera, Lije; Adera Lijen (አደራ ልጄ፤ አደራ፣ ልጄን) becomes an exploration on these conflicts of relationship and identity by this group as East African diaspora in the United States.
Adera, Lije; Adera Lijen (አደራ ልጄ፤ አደራ፣ ልጄን): a promise to protect
Runs through Aug 17
Artist Conversation
Thursday | Aug 15 | 7pm
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Saturday | 11am-7pm
Public Functionary Main Gallery
1st Floor | Studio 144
Image Courtesy of Nafyar
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