#timket

Ethiopian Art: Christian Narratives from the Kebra Nagast

Our graduate intern Morgan Ellsworth, an MA candidate in the UWM Department of Art History, will have an opening for her Master’s Thesis Exhibition on Ethiopian Christian art on February 27. We are so proud of her; congratulations Morgan! The show remains on view through May 14 in UWM’s Mathis Gallery. Here are some of Morgan’s observations:

The time has come for my thesis exhibition at the Emile H. Mathis Art Gallery to be installed and nearly opened! A lot has ensued in preparation for this thesis show and I could not be more excited. 

I was granted the amazing opportunity, funded by the Jeffrey R. Hayes Award, to travel to Ethiopia in January 2020. I witnessed Timket, the three-day-long ceremony celebrating the baptism of Christ. I viewed the amazing rock-hewn churches at Lalibela, the Blue Nile Falls in Bahar Dar, and hiked the Simien Mountains. I researched monestaries with floor-to-cieling wall paintings, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church where the Ark of the Covenant supposedly rests (I was not allowed inside, of course), and the tourist art market in Addis Ababa.

While conducting research in Ethiopia I found that there was a huge shift of art function in the late-19th to mid-20th-century nationalism. Ethiopian Christian art went from being created for religious purposes to becoming tourist souvenirs. These artworks, purchased through tourism, display and spread Ethiopian values of biblical lineage, strength. and independence, as well as religious and cultural pride.  

We’re just glad Morgan returned safe and sound to us, and really look forward to seeing the show!

Happy Timkat, Ethiopia!  The Ethiopian Orthodox Epiphany, Timkat (Ethiopian for “baptism”) celebrates the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.