Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, The seduction of Memory I, from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, Exploration, from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
Between yesterday and tomorrow
I read about Ethiopia’s history as a child in my father’s books, which he left behind before his passing. Ethiopian society takes pride in its 3,000-year history and its resistance to colonization. Remembering is ingrained in our cultural DNA. We find ourselves at an intersection, yearning for the past while facing profound uncertainty about the future.
I have superimposed 19th-century European archives with images from my current work and family albums. This serves as a metaphor for the overlapping of time and space in memory, reflecting our nostalgia while acknowledging the Western world’s influence on our history.
Landscape is an integral part of our heritage. Visiting my grandparents’ birthplace evoked a flood of memories. I initially longed for the presence of my ancestors, followed by a rush of melancholy about the complexities facing this generation of Ethiopians.
Identity photos from my family album are layered with archival portraits of Ethiopian rulers and everyday people, creating a new existence that transcends the original, illustrating the fluidity of memory and the shifting nature of identity between personal and collective experiences.
Remembering is a feeling—an involuntary navigation through a dreamlike state, suspended between yesterday and tomorrow.
Words by Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, Reliving and reshaping memories. A 19th century palace in Ankober, now Ankober lodge, from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, Fluid identities I , from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, Nostalgia of the Red Sea I. Ethiopians have been trading on the red sea for centuries but we lost that privilege to Eritrea in 1992 following a bloody war. We have been a land locked country since then and the Red Sea and its stories, a nostalgia embedded in our being that we can’t quite grasp or let go. From the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, The Seduction of Memory II, from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, The statue of Emperor Menelik made in the memory of the victory of the Battle of Adwa where Ethiopians defeated fascist Italian army against colonialism in the 19th century. The statue was removed during the five years Italian occupation period in 1935 in an attempt to erase the memory of the victory. It was later restored and still stands today at the heart of the capital city as a symbol of our glorious past. However, the statue has recently become a center for conflicting memories and, intense debates about keeping it or removing it surface from time to time among different groups of Ethiopians, from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
About Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie (b. 1990) is an Ethiopian photographer and visual artist based in Addis Ababa. Her work is deeply inspired by history, memory, and the experiences of herself and those she interacts with daily.
Her project “Between Yesterday and Tomorrow” won the CAP Prize 2023 and was shortlisted for the Grand Prix Images Vevey 2023/24 and the PHmuseum Grant. Maheder’s work has been exhibited at numerous venues, museums, and festivals, including Photo London 2024. She has also participated in prestigious programs such as the World Press Photo Masterclass and The New York Times Portfolio Review.
Additionally, she has collaborated with institutions including the Frobenius Institute, the University of Cambridge, the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, and the Goethe-Institut on projects that explore the intersections of photography, history, anthropology, and architecture.
Maheder Haileselassie, Exploration I, from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie
Maheder Haileselassie, Exploration IV, from the series Between yesterday and tomorrow. © Maheder Haileselassie