Absorbed by questions of life and death and the human condition, Merikokeb Berhanu draws inspiration from nature and life itself. Although she has lived and worked mostly in urban environments, the motifs in her work derive predominantly from nature. Berhanu explains that she closes herself off from the outside world to delve deeply into her own subconscious, expressing with colors and shapes what cannot be communicated with words. She tries to capture the feelings and emotions that have accompanied her through the different stages of her life. Her artworks are not about specific moments in time and place; rather, they are situated somewhere between the conscious and the subconscious. Apart from the influence of the Ethiopian Modernist legacy, Berhanu’s work resonates with twentieth century Western female artists like Georgia O’Keeffe and Hilma af Klimt, who created paintings that depict their own emotional states, following their subconscious, and translating feelings and ideas into abstract symbols. Merikokeb Berhanu graduated from the Addis Ababa University, Alle School of Fine Arts and Design in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 2002 and was trained by an elite group of Modernist artists at the influential art school.
[excerpted from Addis Fine Art website: addisfineart.com]
