Collaborative Self

  • Black Placemaking
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  • 11:00AM
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  • Collaborative Self
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  • Mother's Prayer
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  • Site Unseen
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  • The Promise Land
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  • Ethiopian-American
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  • Domestic Borders
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  • Security Theater
  • About

 

Available for commission, collaborative projects, teaching community outreach. Contact me at eyakemg@gmail.com

 
Photography has been used as a primary tool to document the American West as early as the 19th century; I am using this century old method to explore my presence in America as a “newcomer.” As an Ethiopian Immigrant residing in Oklahoma I choose to explore the landscape its inhabitants and my own Ethiopian identity. The result is a collaborative triptych which blurs the boundaries between American and Ethiopian, photographer and subject.I extend my Ethiopian identity by inviting my subjects to dress in traditional Ethiopian clothing. The clothing is a metaphor for the exchange of ideas. Not only am I introducing my subjects to a component of Ethiopian heritage, but I am also challenging the viewer’s expectations of what it means to be Ethiopian. This project allows me to write myself into the history of the American landscape, but more importantly, this project questions the boundaries that separate us from one another.