An unprecedented insight into telsem art through the work of one of its most prolific contemporary practitioners.
Drawing from astrology, religion and spirituality, the Ethiopian art form of telsem interweaves symbols, drawings and texts imbued with spiritual and philosophical significance. Shaped throughout the ages by the sociopolitical and cultural histories of Ethiopia, telsem-with its ancient inspirations and modern idioms-is used to address critical problems in the contemporary world such as climate disasters, war and poverty. Despite the fact that it continues to be practised, telsem is often characterised as "healing art" or "talisman art" within western frameworks, a perspective that excludes it from many discussions of modernism.
Henok Melkamzer: Telsem Symbols and Imagery, edited by scholar Elizabeth Giorgis, challenges such a one-dimensional understanding of modernism and offers us a rare insight into one of Ethiopia's most compelling modernist art practices through the work of Henok Melkamzer.
