"The act of creativity, there's an emotional element of it."
Aïda Muluneh (b. 1974, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) is one of the most influential figures in contemporary African photography. Her Afrofuturist visual language, built on body painting, saturated primary colours and symbolic staging, explores African identity, womanhood and memory beyond the documentary clichés of the continent. A Howard University film graduate and former Washington Post photojournalist, she founded the Addis Foto Fest (2010), East Africa's first international photography festival, and the Africa Foto Fair in Abidjan, where she is now based. The first Black woman to co-curate the Nobel Peace Prize exhibition (2019) and a Canon Ambassador, she has exhibited from MoMA to the Sharjah Art Museum. Her works are held in the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art and the National Gallery of Victoria, among many others.