Ermias Ekube
How Lives Matter More # 1, 2016.
About:
Born in 1970 in Addis-Ababa, he completed his primary and secondary education in Ethiopia.
Ermias Ekube is an Eritrean painter, sculptor, engraver and poet, who currently lives and works in Västervik, Sweden. After completing his studies at the Addis Ababa University School of Fine Arts and Design, he began experimenting with different techniques in painting and 3D work. Currently, he is focused on realist portraiture.
Freedom of……, 2016.
Statements:
Whose life matters? Where does life matter more? When does life matter more? These questions are more concrete than the ones he normally explores, but are ones he believes every person can and should ponder. They are seeded in his own experiences, of “living in different places and societies… witnessing lives wasted in prisons, in wars and migrations caused by issues of race and social class… and rooted in discrimination.”
How Lives Matter More # 2, 2016.
He speaks of reintroducing the fragility of life through “expressions of tension and balance… and delicate objects [like eggs and paper boats] that are very much related to the ever-growing uncertainty, the nonstop forced dislocations, the continuous loss of thousands of lives”.
When Lives Matter More # 2, 2016.
“By its nature art is a highly spiritual activity. Its role may be to remind, to raise consciousness in humanity, in life. To propose a new way of seeing for a possible harmony [rather] than friction between people. To present the problems for possible solutions.”
(quotes from article of Melissa Smyth on WarScapes site, September 2016)