Walk through any major Ethiopian gallery and count the solo exhibitions by women artists over the past decade. The numbers are stark. Despite the fact that women constitute a significant proportion of art school graduates and practicing artists, they remain dramatically underrepresented in the commercial gallery system, in public collections, and in the critical literature.
This is not a problem of talent or productivity. It is a problem of structure. The Ethiopian art market, like art markets globally, is shaped by networks of patronage, critical attention, and institutional support that have historically centered male artists. Collectors are more likely to purchase work by male artists. Critics are more likely to review it. Galleries are more likely to represent it.
But something is shifting. A new generation of women artists — Mihret Kebede, Meseret Argaw, Tigist Girma — are building alternative structures: artist-run spaces, online platforms, diaspora networks, and international residency connections that bypass the traditional gatekeepers of the Ethiopian art world.
YESEFERSEW is committed to actively addressing this imbalance. Our editorial policy prioritizes critical attention to women artists. Our membership structure includes mentorship pathways specifically designed to support emerging women practitioners. And our biennial curatorial framework mandates gender parity at every level of the exhibition apparatus.
