Ephrem Solomon's Folk Memory is a series of painted and collaged woodcut panels. Trained as a printmaker, Solomon carves his images into the surface, revealing the gouges and marks of production, to make portraits intensified by colour and pattern.
Solomon describes these figures:
I observe people every day and witness an array of emotions on peoples' faces. The figures in my work are from everyday observations and people from my imagination. Together, they create people that can be recognised, but are also invisible in society. They can be me or you. They are anyone. Their eyes are looking in different directions, transmitting their different perspectives and ideas.
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Ephrem Solomon was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1983, where he currently lives, and graduated with a diploma in Fine Art and Graphic Design from Entoto Art School (2009). Solo exhibitions include Untitled Life, Tiwani Contemporary, London (2014) and In Silence, Le Rustique, Nairobi (2012). Group shows include: Pangaea II: New art from Africa and Latin America, Saatchi Gallery, London (2015); 6th Edition- East Africa Art Biennale, University of Dar es Salaam (2013); Contemporary African Art and its Caricature, Yokohama City University, Japan (2013); Substance & Environment, Nairobi National Museum (2012); 2nd International Biennial of Painters and Sculptors, Art Gallery Kula, Croatia (2010).
