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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Anny and Samantha. I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: stuff I ever told your production of My Heart.

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Speaker 2: Radio and welcome to activist around the world. And to

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Speaker 2: close out Black History Months, but not to say we

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Speaker 2: won't continue to talk about the many people from the

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Speaker 2: black community who haven't continued to use their art and

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Speaker 2: activism and voice to do so much and improve the world,

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Speaker 2: because you know we will. But to close out for

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Speaker 2: this specific timeframe, we are finishing up with artists, activists.

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Speaker 2: Ida Mullinae who is an Ethiopian photographer, educator, and so

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Speaker 2: much more. Though born in Addis Adaba, Ethiopia, Mullinee has

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Speaker 2: been a traveler around the world, spending a chunk of

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Speaker 2: our childhood in Cyprus, Greece, UK Yemen, and eventually in Canada,

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Speaker 2: where she would attend high schoo Except this time in

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Speaker 2: high school she first starts her adventure in photography. She

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Speaker 2: would then go on to Howard University in Washington, d C.

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Speaker 2: Where she would major in film. From there, she went

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Speaker 2: on to work for the Washington Post as a photojournalist.

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Speaker 2: Now not really talking much about her time there, but

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Speaker 2: apparently according to the mini articles, she would use black

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Speaker 2: and white photography for photojournalism, but would later go on

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Speaker 2: to all of her exhibits with being a very colorful

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Speaker 2: and vibrant And she did say at one point that

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Speaker 2: she just felt like when she was a photojournalist, she

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Speaker 2: was seeing in black and white and then the chance.

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Speaker 2: So I just thought that was an interesting little tidbit.

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Speaker 2: But that In her Wikipedia article, they write that she

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Speaker 2: was encouraged by her grandfather to step fully into her artwork. Quote.

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Speaker 2: Although Mulaney began shooting photographs in high school, she did

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Speaker 2: not imagine it as a career until her grandfather, who

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Speaker 2: lived in Ethiopia, came to visit her family. He had

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Speaker 2: served in the Ethiopian Air Force and enjoyed pain in

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Speaker 2: his spare time. He saw something in her work and

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Speaker 2: told her to continue work as an artist rather than

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Speaker 2: putting off her passion as a hobby. I love that sentiment,

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Speaker 2: like you don't see that contact or conversation often being like, no,

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Speaker 2: this is not a hobby. This should be your passion,

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Speaker 2: This should be your job. And she was like, oh, okay,

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Speaker 2: you're right. So her photography caught people's attention pretty quickly.

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Speaker 2: I believe she graduated college in two thousand went to

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Speaker 2: work at the Washington Post and in two thousand and

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Speaker 2: seven she was awarded the European Union Prize for African

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Speaker 2: Photography Encounters. So already getting those accolades, and here's what

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Speaker 2: she said about her works that earn her this award.

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Speaker 2: The work that I do is a visual diary of

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Speaker 2: my experiences and thoughts over the years. Hence I choose

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Speaker 2: portraits because it is a journey exploring various topics through

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Speaker 2: each model. I want to share humanistic stories, to find

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Speaker 2: things that create communality as opposed to differences, and to

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Speaker 2: share a perspective that questions our own humility, regardless of

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Speaker 2: our backgrounds. And a part of her experience includes traveling

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Speaker 2: and being around the world, a lifestyle she has said

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Speaker 2: has been lonely, but with that she has fully understood

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Speaker 2: the importance of representing communities as they are seeking to

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Speaker 2: go beyond an idea or a theme, but to truly

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Speaker 2: represent the land in area. She has had several exhibitions

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Speaker 2: that feature locations or areas, including the UK and Ethiopia,

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Speaker 2: so her work featuring her country Ethiopia was something really

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Speaker 2: important to her, something that would help her to reconnect

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Speaker 2: with her Ethiopian heritage. In twenty eighteen, her work was

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Speaker 2: shown at MoMA, or Museum of Modern Art in New

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Speaker 2: York City, and she created the Attis Photus Festival, which

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Speaker 2: was held in East Africa, the first one ever in

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Speaker 2: twenty ten, and in an interview with NPR, she said

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Speaker 2: this about her work. I'm trying to share my heritage,

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Speaker 2: but also to show the universality of people around the world.

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Speaker 2: I've gone from looking at body paint around Ethiopia to

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Speaker 2: looking across the continent to looking around the world. I

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Speaker 2: realized from looking at all these different kinds of body

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Speaker 2: painting that there are all these lines of connection between

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Speaker 2: different societies. Whatever our struggle, there's something that we share.

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Speaker 2: The whole collection isn't a matter of looking at our differences,

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Speaker 2: it's a matter of looking at the similarities that we share.

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Speaker 2: So she was specifically talking about the different indigenous cultures

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Speaker 2: who used art like this and body paint. So if

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Speaker 2: you go and look at her artwork, you will see

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Speaker 2: a feature of her usage of body paint, Like how

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Speaker 2: important art like this painting isn't her photography and the

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Speaker 2: landscape it is gorgeous. Of course, if you have a

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Speaker 2: fear of polka dots. Like me, some of the can

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Speaker 2: be triggering, so watch it. I had to like bypass

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Speaker 2: some photos. I'm okay. And she said this when asked

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Speaker 2: her how she hoped people would react to her art.

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Speaker 2: When you see my images in any show, you can

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Speaker 2: see my work from a mile away. The colors are

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Speaker 2: so striking you can't miss it. I hope people google

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Speaker 2: my name and google Ethiopia and see something completely different

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Speaker 2: that they haven't seen in international meta. So she was

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Speaker 2: really talking about how the media portrays African countries like Ethiopia,

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Speaker 2: and she wanted to show that it's not like that.

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Speaker 2: I will say, with artwork like hers, it does prove

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Speaker 2: so much and how gorgeous the culture really is, and

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Speaker 2: how we don't give enough credit to how they influenced

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Speaker 2: art and even clothing and design in general. So I

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Speaker 2: do live seen that. And last year she did one

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Speaker 2: focused on the UK where she was quote capturing the

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Speaker 2: UK's contradictions. So this was from a Guardian article and

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Speaker 2: I'm going to read some more from that. More than

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Speaker 2: forty years later, Mulaney, who had left the UK, returns

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Speaker 2: to the UK invited by Impression Gallery to make new

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Speaker 2: work across Bradford, Belfast, Cardiff and Glasgow to this year's

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Speaker 2: UK City of Culture program, comprising twenty two images. The

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Speaker 2: Necessity of Seeing was made over a month long road trip.

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Speaker 2: She crammed all her equipment into two cars in a minivan,

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Speaker 2: along with a mobile studio, painted backdrops and clothing brought

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Speaker 2: over from Africa and five core crew members. It was

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Speaker 2: basically like getting a crash course in the UK History

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Speaker 2: and Contemporary Life snsed Mulonnaise and in that she was

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Speaker 2: able to incorporate the city's landscapes and landmarks at the

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Speaker 2: same time embracing things of gender, religion and different parts

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Speaker 2: of the diaspora. And from that same article they write

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Speaker 2: this Mulinae connects historic wounds with contemporary struggles, the decline

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Speaker 2: of industry, the history of labor union movements, women's rights,

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Speaker 2: and the exploitation of immigrants in these images, as in reality,

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Speaker 2: everything is connected. So she has this amazing ability to

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Speaker 2: bring in again that beauty of vibrant colors, but a

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Speaker 2: story behind those images. So it's definitely something you need

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Speaker 2: to take time to look at. She told The Guardian,

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Speaker 2: I'm creating my universe within an existing reality. And reshaping

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Speaker 2: it to reflect how I was feeling at the time.

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Speaker 2: The title the Necessity of Seeing is emblematic of the

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Speaker 2: deep political awareness driving Molinai's work. She says, growing up

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Speaker 2: displaced has given me a kind of anger that feels

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Speaker 2: my work. I've always been drawn to communities dealing with

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Speaker 2: division and cultural identity. My aim wasn't to come here

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Speaker 2: and try to reflect something I don't fully understand. I

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Speaker 2: can only reflect my experiences of trying to understand the

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Speaker 2: complexity of the UK, what I saw, witnessed, and felt again.

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Speaker 2: Take the time go look her up, and you should

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Speaker 2: definitely look at her work. It is beautiful and stunning

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Speaker 2: and like a little bit haunting. But when you see

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Speaker 2: and she mainly focuses on women and she talks about

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Speaker 2: that's what she knows, that that's how she knows, that's

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Speaker 2: what's reflected in her work. But like the women stare

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Speaker 2: into the camera, it's intense. I like it and with

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Speaker 2: all of this. In twenty nineteen, Molonaie became the first

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Speaker 2: black woman to co curate the Nobel Peace Prize exhibition.

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Speaker 2: And here's what her site idammolonae dot com says about

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Speaker 2: the exhibit. Her Commission projects use creativity to educate and

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Speaker 2: advocate on topics related to the environment and health. Her

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Speaker 2: work has been exhibited globally in published and key publication

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Speaker 2: were worldwide. As a leader in her film that she's

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Speaker 2: been recognized as a change maker in Africa, shifting perceptions

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Speaker 2: of the continent. Yes, y'all, and I will say she

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Speaker 2: has a lot in talking about environmental issues, talking about

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Speaker 2: climate justice, talking about gender issues like she's as many

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Speaker 2: of our features, is very versed in activism in itself,

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Speaker 2: but uses her passion and talent to talk about all

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Speaker 2: of those issues. And yes, of course she has several

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Speaker 2: accolades for her work, as in fact, in twenty twenty three,

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Speaker 2: she was the one hundred most Influential Africans by New

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Speaker 2: African Magazine. She was a Royal Photographic Society Curatorship Award

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty. She is actually a candidate ambassador. You

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Speaker 2: can go look her up Catchlight Fellowship Grant. She was

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Speaker 2: ordered that in twenty eighteen and she won the CRAF

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Speaker 2: International Photography Award in Italy in twenty ten. Again, there's

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Speaker 2: so much more to our work. You should go and

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Speaker 2: look at what she is doing. What she's continuing doing

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Speaker 2: She is all her social medias again. Her website as

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Speaker 2: Adam all A was just A I D A l

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Speaker 2: U l U n e H dot com. Go and

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Speaker 2: check her out.

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Speaker 1: Well as always listeners, If you would like to suggest

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Speaker 1: anyone for this segment, please let us know. You can

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Speaker 1: email us at Hello at stuff Whenever Told You dot com.

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Speaker 1: You can find us on loose skyte Mom Stuff podcast,

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Speaker 1: or on Instagram and TikTok at Stuff We Never Told You.

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Speaker 1: We're also on YouTube. We have some merchandise at coom

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Speaker 1: Bureau and we have a buck you can get wherever

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Speaker 1: you get your books. Thanks as always to our superroduced

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Speaker 1: Christine during Secret to producing, my intercontributor Joey, thank you

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Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening Stuff Will Never Told

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Speaker 1: You Strotruction by Heart Radio. For more podcast from my

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