Untitled
Untitled
Artist
Eyakem Gulilat
(born 1976)
Date2014
MediumArchival pigment print
Dimensions16 × 46 in.
Framed: 24 × 50 in.
Framed: 24 × 50 in.
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2021.41
Accession number
2021.41
On View
Not on viewLabel TextAt right, wearing traditional Ethiopian clothing, artist Eyakem Gulilat stands in the lush Oklahoma wilderness. To the left, similarly dressed, stands someone else from Gulilat’s adopted state. What connects them – literally their common ground – is the landscape of the artist’s new home.
In this series, Gulilat knowingly nods to Oklahoma’s own history, referring to himself as an “Ethiopian explorer to the American West.” Appropriately, however, this “exploration” is about personal discovery, viewing this project as a way to understand how he fits into a new place, not a bold claim about grand discovery for all.
