Awol Erizku Ethiopian-American, b. 1988

Born in Gondar, Ethiopia, in 1988, Awol Erizku is a multidisciplinary artist working in photography, film, sculpture and installation, creating a new vernacular that bridges the gap between African and African American visual culture. Erizku's work refers to subjects as diverse as art history, hip-hop, and spirituality, rejecting Eurocentric notions of art and beauty in favour of building an Afrocentric aesthetic, something he refers to as "Afro-esotericism.” With a distinctive emphasis on reclaiming and reinterpreting historical narratives within a contemporary context, Erizku’s work challenges viewers to reconsider conventional perspectives on art and society through a lens that merges personal narrative with broader socio-political commentary.

Erizku received a BFA from The Cooper Union, New York, in 2010, and an MFA from the Yale School of Art, New Haven, in 2014. Erizku’s work has been exhibited at prominent institutions including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Arkansas; Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York; The Studio Museum, Harlem; Museum of Contemporary Art, Toronto; FLAG Art Foundation, New York; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah. Erizku also brings high concept to commercial photography highlighting cultural and creative leaders for publications such as The New Yorker, New York Magazine, GQ and Vanity Fair. Erizku's works are included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Norton Museum of Art, Palm Beach; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; By Art Matters, Hangzhou Contemporary Art Museum, Hangzhou; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah.