Your name 
Maheder Haileselassie 
Place of birth 
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 
Place where you live now 
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
3 words to describe you 
Curious, Analytical, Ethiopian
Why do you take pictures? 
The more I took pictures, the more it gave me access to more information/knowledge and I enjoyed that.
Where do you get your inspiration? 
From my surroundings, books, history, memories and people I engage with everyday. 
Who are your influences?
People from different disciplines and cultures influence me for different reasons. I always get energy from the stories of comedians, painters, photographers and writers and what it took for them to be who they are.
What determines the subject matter you choose? 
The amount of excitement I get from doing it.
What impact would you like your art to have? 
It sure changed me in the way that I could never imagine but I’d like for it to push people to look further and dig a bit deeper and extrapolate that experience into life around them.
What artwork do you never get bored with? 
A sculptural painting by Tadesse Gizaw, Freedom, 1975
Is there anything you want to add?  
-

A Pearl in a Phantom
Project statement

I decided early on I’d never leave my country Ethiopia to live somewhere else. I dreamed and believed in it and its future, not suspecting that living here meant my life’s journey would be intertwined between the dilemma of a deep love for my country and an equally deep ambivalence for what’s going on in it. 


These images made on a phone camera became a reflection on utopian dreams, false promises and unattained goals that we struggle to live with everyday. I travelled to better understand the Ethiopia I had in my imagination. Bright, vivid colours are a projection of our dreams; green, yellow, red, the colour of our flag and fake plastics, a cover for the reality that lies beneath our mask.


Contradictions are everywhere while terms such as peace, prosperity, glory and unity have become common. A billboard of the prime minister, who won a Nobel peace prize, is seen in the capital city. It is titled “A leader that elevated Ethiopia”. Nearly a year later, a war would break out in the Northern region that took the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.

The work slowly moves between the boundaries of reality & fantasy, genuine & artificial, perfection & imperfection and burden or division.Throughout the years, I realised that I was not just photographing people or spaces ; I was actually photographing myself and many others, and the hopes and dreams we believed our country could offer.

maheder hailselassie
@maheder_haileselassie