Agata Nowak
‘Axum’
Dear Reader,
The first time I encountered the story of the massacre in Axum was on 25th February 2021 when I received my weekly subscription email from TheArtNewspaper.com. I noticed the bold title of the ‘Ethiopian heritage under attack’ article and started reading. I don’t remember much about heritage but learning about the mass killings of the civilians in the ancient city in Northern Ethiopia. I’ve learned that hundreds of civilians were killed in just over two days on the 27th and 28th November. Their bodies were left for days, eaten by hyenas before being allowed to be collected and offered a burial.
“The evidence is compelling and points to a chilling conclusion. Ethiopian and Eritrean troops carried out multiple war crimes in their offensive to take control of Axum. Above and beyond that, Eritrean troops went on a rampage and systematically killed hundreds of civilians in cold blood, which appears to constitute crimes against humanity,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa.
It all felt so unreal - ghastly, atrocious. How could I miss this news and why aren’t we doing something?
I felt powerless and deeply disturbed. I couldn’t sleep.
I started making figures to commemorate the ones who died. I started making them at night, when everyone was asleep and the house was quiet.
I learned a lot about early Christinanity, Ethiopia’s rich history and stunning monuments. I came across visuals of the procession around the Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion, which reputedly houses the Ark of the Covenant and created my story from there.
I imagined (the victims) the mothers, young children and young adults walking together, interacting and supporting each other almost as in the procession around the Church of our Lady Mary of Zion.
The work is made in black groggy clay. The figures have long necks, small heads, bodies as if dressed in long tunics with suggestion of movement. The clay has an earthy, rough quality with grogg coming though. The figures are unglazed, there is no decoration apart from slightly detectable finger marks left by when pressing the clay. Stoneware. The figures range from 10cm to 32cm high.
Agata
