b. 1958, Ethiopia
A poet and visual artist, Kebedech attended the School of Fine Arts in Addis Ababa. During the revolution in the late 1970s, she became active in the student resistance movement. As Kebedech fled the Ethiopian regime, she was caught up in the Ethiopian-Somali conflict, and imprisoned in a labor camp for nearly a decade. Following her release in 1989, Kebedech joined family members in the United States, where she received her BFA (1992) and MFA (1995) from Howard University. The artist lives, works and teaches in the Washington, D.C. area.
She recently collaborated with Skunder Boghossian on a commission entitled 
Nexus at the Embassy of Ethiopia in Washington, D.C. and is currently at work on a second project for the embassy.
Recommended web sites for further study
(not affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution)
http://www.legacy-project.org/artists/display.html?ID=2
On April 30, on the occasion of the opening of Ethiopian Passages: Dialogues in the Diaspora, curator Elizabeth Harney asked Kebedech to comment on her work in relation to the exhibition's theme of relocation and diaspora.
Go to the Video Interview section.
Insulated
1998
Acrylic on canvas
168.5 x 153 cm.) 66 x 60 in.)
Collection of the artist
The River in Rwanda
1994
Acrylic on canvas
173 x 71.5 cm. (68 x 28 in.)
Collection of the artist
Shackled
1993
Acrylic on canvas
137 x 214.5 cm. (54 x 84 1/2 in.)
Collection of the artist
Behind the Bars I
1994
Acrylic and modeling paste on canvas
50.5 x 61 cm. (20 x 24 in.)
Collection of the artist