Mulu Legesse’s solo exhibition, “I Carry – Je Porte, ሙሉ,” opened to the public at Alliance Éthio-Française in Addis Ababa on October 8.
The exhibition, which runs until October 31, explores memory, identity, womanhood, motherhood and personal transformation through painting, collage, sculpture and installation.
The exhibition’s title draws on the meaning of the artist’s name, Mulu (ሙሉ), which means “whole,” “complete” or “entire” in Amharic. Through layered compositions, fragmented forms and reworked pieces, Mulu examines how experiences from the past continue to shape the present.
The works bring together themes of memory, relationships, responsibility, cultural inheritance, loss, strength and change. Earlier layers remain visible in several pieces, while taking on new meanings within different contexts.
“We carry our memories, relationships, responsibilities and identities with us. The question is not only what we carry, but what we choose to make of what we carry,” Mulu said.
The exhibition also creates a dialogue among Amharic, English and French. The use of the three languages extends the exhibition’s exploration of identity, belonging and the ways people express their experiences across cultural settings.
Mulu is a multidisciplinary visual artist based in Addis Ababa. She works across sculpture, painting, collage and installation and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from the Alle School of Fine Arts and Design at Addis Ababa University in 2019.
Her artistic practice is shaped by memory and motherhood, with cultural inheritance serving as a source of meaning and continuity. She describes her creative process as one in which earlier works can return in new forms, allowing past and present to coexist.
Mulu has held solo exhibitions including Timket at Post Gallery in Addis Ababa in 2024 and an exhibition at Neta Studio 11 in 2023. She also presented Drawing with Words, Writing in Ink, a collaborative project with writers, at the Addis Ababa Museum in 2022.
Her group exhibitions include Skate, Create, Liberate, an Apexart international open-call exhibition in the United States; Empower Her at the National Museum of Egypt; Echoes of Abyssinia at the National Museum of Unification in Romania; and exhibitions at Post Gallery, Fendika Cultural Centre and Addis Ababa Museum.
The exhibition is curated by Dr Gerhard “Gerd” Steffes, a German philanthropist and former European Union official who has supported cultural and development initiatives linking Ethiopia and Europe.
Steffes worked for the European Commission for nearly three decades, mainly in health policy. Since 2008, he has supported privately funded development projects in Ethiopia, including medical assistance for disadvantaged girls, education and training for young women, and support for schools in the Ethiopian Highlands.
