Engaging with a long and deeply rooted tradition of Ethiopian painting, Merikokeb Berhanu’s works feature abstract forms and dense backgrounds, which interact with recurring organic symbols. Informed by the physical structures of Addis Ababa as well as the artist’s psychological musings, the rich imagery within these works renders a complex understanding of contemporary personal and collective life through all-encompassing, complex compositions. Creating an aloof, almost subterranean atmosphere in her paintings, Merikokeb is communicating the visual equivalent of her feelings and thoughts, wanting the viewer to ‘hear’ the images through their own visual power.
Berhanu completed her art degree from the Addis Ababa University Fine Arts and Design School (2002), where she studied mural design. She presently works from the Nubia studio, and her work has been shown in numerous exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at the Ethiopian National Museum (2011), RedHill Art Gallery, Nairobi (2015) and Addis Fine Art Gallery (2016).