Adera, Lije; Adera Lijen (አደራ ልጄ፤ አደራ፣ ልጄን)

Presented by Emerging Curators Institute & Public Functionary

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.

About the Curator:

Makeda “Keda” Tadesse is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and curator, whose work is deeply rooted in migration and refugee rights and multisensory environments that engage sound, smell, and touch. In this season of discovery, her practice approaches curation as an emotional and experimental diary, allowing her to channel curiosity and observation into exploring the lines within relationships, and the richness of shared traditions within communities of color.

Her forthcoming exhibition, Adera, Lije; Adera Lijen (አደራ ልጄ፤ አደራ፣ ልጄን): a promise to protect delves into the cultural dissonance experienced by second-generation East African diaspora communities in the United States, exploring the complexity of identity, displacement, and nostalgia.

Makeda Tadesse is a 2023-2024 Emerging Curators Institute Fellow and her exhibition is presented as part of her fellowship. 

ACCESSIBILITY:

For this exhibition: 

Audio tour guide, Large print and digital programs will be available. 

Signage will be present at Northrup King Building to support wayfinding to and from the #144 PF Main Gallery.  

Sensory friendly and masked gallery hours will occur on Wednesdays from 11am - 5pm. Headphones will be available. Masking will be required on this day with high-quality masks available. Scents will be reduced, music will be turned off.

Masking will be required for the first hour of the opening reception on Saturday, July 27 between 6pm - 7pm. High quality masks will be available. At 7pm, a notice will be given for the transition from masked to unmasked attendance. 

Should you have a particular question about access or an access request, please email the curator, Makeda Tadesse, at keda@publicfunctionary.org.

Gallery Hours:

Wednesday - Saturday: 11am - 7pm

Presented concurrently with Blackness in Transit: BGBM | BearBOI

Image: Nafyar, Wan iyo Waraabe (The lamb and the hyena), oil and acrylic on canvas, 54"x70" (2023)