NI-Q-SAT - ንቅሳት

This work explores the relationship between body, memory, and mark making. Displayed on a male body is a tattoo historically associated with feminine Ethiopian tattoo traditions, patterns that once carried meanings of beauty, protection, belonging, and spiritual identity. By transferring these markings onto a male body, the work disrupts rigid distinctions between masculine and feminine, personal inheritance and collective memory.

The photograph focuses on the neck, a vulnerable and exposed part of the body, creating a tension between delicacy and restraint. Through dark, isolated lighting, the body becomes an archival surface onto which cultural memory is inscribed. The work reflects on how Ethiopian body marking traditions continue to exist through migration, transformation, and the rewriting of identity across generations.