Rachel Anyo; Figure Coming to Life

Rachel Anyo creates a new visual image of a feminist Ethiopian woman. She recruited 13 differently-aged women of Ethiopian origin for the project, and together they explored their culture by working in the collage technique. Based on a database of images prepared by Anyo from her family albums, the participants created collages under the guidance of the artist, who deconstructed and reconstructed them into new collages all her own.

By disassembling and reassembling the images, Anyo studies her Ethiopian identity and re-acquaints herself with her culture. She replaces the traditional Ethiopian craft of weaving with that of spinning different images into one another. Anyo and the women delve into images and situations, extracting and putting forth meanings, while attesting to their social group and its contribution to the local culture. A developing social logic is discernible in the works: self-awareness, feminist-group consciousness, and awareness of the power of the socio-cultural group of which they are members. Against the way in which Ethiopian identity was defined from the outside by the old Israeli society, Anyo creates an insider cultural self-definition and builds a story in which the Ethiopian women are the protagonists.

Rachel Anyo
1991, Kiryat Yam, Israel
The works are courtesy of the artist

Curator Oz Zloof