Over the past four decades, Wosene Worke Kosrof has created an internationally recognised artistic signature by being the first Ethiopian-born contemporary American artist to use the script forms – fiedel – of his native Amharic as a core element in his paintings and sculptures.

Kosrof was formally trained at the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts and completed a BFA with distinction in 1972. Then, as a Ford Foundation Talent Scholar, he was awarded an MFA in 1980 from Howard University, Washington, DC. Kosrof’s works are featured in a number of American permanent museum collections, including the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, DC; Newark Museum, New Jersey; Neuberger Museum of Art, New York; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana; Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama; Fowler Museum of UCLA, California; Samuel Harn Museum, Florida; Krannert Art Museum, Illinois and Fleming Museum, Florida. His works are also included in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa and Völkerkundemuseum der Universität Zürich, Zurich.