Dawit L. Petros’ work explores the relationship between African histories and European modernism. His installations and photography works are based around extensive research and travels. Employing abstraction as an act of translation to push against naturalised ways of understanding form, colour and subjectivity, Petros draws upon forms rooted in diverse histories. This unique artistic language enables a metaphorically rich articulation of the fluidity of contemporary transnational experiences such as displacement, place-making, and cultural negotiation.

Recent exhibitions include: the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, USA (2014); the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA (2014); Durban Art Gallery, South Africa (2011); and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., USA (2013). Petros was awarded an Independent Study Fellowship at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City (2012). His solo exhibition at H&R Block Artspace, Kansas City Art Institute, takes place in October 2016.