10 Years of Addis Fine Art: A Decade of Discovery

A candid conversation on a decade of building an international platform for East African artists. 2026 marks ten years of Addis Fine Art, the gallery that opened Ethiopia’s first international white-cube space and helped redraw the map of contemporary African art. To celebrate, co-founders Rakeb Sile and Mesai Haileleul join Konjit Seyoum for a candid conversation reflecting on a decade of gallery-building and the gallery’s new tenth-anniversary publication, 10 Years of Addis Fine Art: A Decade of Discovery. They trace Addis Fine Art’s evolution from a single space in Addis Ababa to an internationally recognised platform for artists from Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, and their diasporas, and look at what it takes to build lasting infrastructure for artists working outside the traditional art-world centres. The conversation also considers the wider development of Addis Ababa’s art ecosystem and its growing connections across East Africa. Copies of the book will be available at the 1–54 Bookshop. Moderator Konjit Seyoum, Curator, Founder of Asni Gallery Panellists Rakeb Sile, Co-Founder, Addis Fine Art Mesai Haileleul, Co-Founder, Addis Fine Art