Maheder Haileselassie | |
|---|---|
 self-portrait | |
| Born | 1990 |
| Nationality | Ethiopian |
| Known for | leading photographer and artist |
Maheder Haileselassie Tadese (1990 - ) is an Ethiopian artist and photographer. She won the 2023 Contemporary African Photography Prize and she was chosen as one of the BBC's 100 inspiring women in 2024 as a "climate pioneer".
Haileselassie was born and raised in Addis Ababa in 1990. [1] [2] She was at university studying civil engineering. Her interest became photography in her final year when she took photos of her friends with her Blackberry phone. In the following year she upgraded to an IPhone and by 2013 her primary interest was photography. [3]
She runs the Center for Photography to encourage younger photographers in Ethiopia. [4] She has criticised the work of photographer Mahesh Shantaram who has tried to document the effect of colonialism, but she finds his work problematic as she feels that he creates poses that are for the pleasure of the viewer. She thinks this is a colonial view where women are needlessly naked to fascinate a western audience. [5]
Haileselassie won the 2023 Contemporary African Photography Prize. [4] [6] The other four winning photographers were Nadia Ettwein, Yassmin Forte, Carlos Idun-Tawiah and Léonard Pongo. [7]
The African Photography Encounters 14th biennial takes the theme “Kuma, La Parole” (Kuma, the Word). The artistic director is Lassana Igo Diarra with a team that includes Nadine Hounkpatin, Manthia Diawara , Soufiane Er-Rahoui, Oyindamola (Fakeye) Faithfull and Patrick Mudekereza. [8] [9] The thirty artists selected for the group exhibition titled La Panafricane include Haileselassie, Bernard Akoi-Jackson of Ghana, Jeannette Ehlers of Denmark and Trinidad and Tobago and the Moroccan Mounir Fatmi (Morocco). [8]
She was chosen as one of the BBC's 100 inspiring women in 2024. The BBC and [6] The Guardian drew attention to her work in 2024 where she documents the effect of climate change on young girls. The rate of child marriage in Somalia had more than doubled as families try to cope with the shortage of food and water. Her photographs show the girls and they document the effect of the drought on the landscape. [10]
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