While I was down in Melbourne, I really wanted to step inside the Footscray Community Arts Centre. Footscray is a vibrant suburb which has distinctive African flavour. Footscray is home to various African stores, cafes and restaurants dotted across the suburb. Every time I go to Melbourne (who am I kidding, its only been twice), I make it a point to visit Footscray to sample the amazing Ethiopian food.
Exhibitions at the FCAC are the main reason I go to the centre and this time it was to see the Cultural Revolutions by Tamirat Gebremariam. Gebremariam is an Ethiopian-Australian graduate from the University of Melbourne and Victorian College of the Arts and Music. He started his art career in Ethiopia when he graduated from a Fine Art Diploma from Addis Ababa University. His work which has been exhibited across Australia, Ethiopia and Egypt, evolves around his strong background in classical painting.
What is interesting about his exhibition and other collections is the fusion of Ethiopian traditions with Australian culture. In Cultural Revolutions he uses abstract paintings to reflect and comment on aspects of dual identities particularly examining his own Ethiopian-Australian identity. The paintings also fuse aspects of his Ethiopian childhood with Australian symbols.
Prior to this exhibition, Gebremariam had a successful collection of works titled ‘Crossing Between Cultures’, which focused on the 2009 Victorian bushfires. This exhibition had vibrant and bold abstract swirl paintings to highlight and remind viewers of the intensity of this experience.
I do hope Cultural Revolution makes its way to Sydney, I think a venue like Casula Powerhouse would be perfect for it and Gebremariam is definitely a Afro-Australian creative on the rise!
Cultural Revolutions
Crossing Between Cultures
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