Since graduating from Allé School of Fine Art and Design in 2006, Tesfaye Urgessa has quickly become one of the most prominent contemporary artists from Ethiopia. He then attended the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart in 2009 and has been based in Germany ever since. Urgessa artistic subject matter focuses on social criticism, race, and the politics of identity, and has deep roots in his childhood and his memories as a young man in Ethiopia. Having studied under modern master Tadesse Mesfin at the Allé School of Fine Art and Design, Urgessa connected with Ethiopian iconography. This will be, in years to come, one of the binding elements of his artistic production. In his own words, this is like ‘always having an Ethiopian accent, no matter what language I’m speaking.’ Later on, over the course of his travels in Europe, he encountered the heritage of German Neo-Expressionism and the London School, which he would incorporate in his imagery.