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From the Archives: Re-discovering ‘A Year of Farming in Gojjam, Ethiopia’

Writer's picture: Ben CarsonBen Carson

This article was originally posted on the University of Cambridge's African Studies Library blog.


In late August, when the African Studies Library is at its quietest, Professor Conrad Lichtenstein walked through the door. “Do you have any Amharic language learning books?” he asked. Though we don’t, he and I began chatting and he told me he wanted to improve because his wife is Ethiopian. I sent him a few recommendations, including links to the Cambridge Language Centre, and that was that. But then I remembered a dusty secret that would lead to new collaboration and discovery in the following months.


The African Studies Library houses a brilliant, bright, and user friendly collection that’s accessed daily. Lesser known is that we have a basement archive where the largely uncatalogued collection comprises more than a few items with no known provenance. One such gem is a painting on canvas or cotton, roughly 2 meters wide and 1 meter tall, framed by simple white-painted wood.


The painting has lived in the archive for at least 7 years. Past efforts to de-mystify its meaning were unfortunately bogged down by other priorities. Now, it’s been brought back into the light.


‘A year of farming in Gojjam’ : Depicting the annual farming cycle and 39 tasks and events that accompany it in the North-Eastern province of Gojjam, Ethiopia. Painting on canvas or cotton, roughly 2 meters wide and 1 meter tall, framed by simple white-painted wood.

I excitedly contacted Conrad and asked if he and his wife would like to come in and take a look at the painting. They graciously obliged and we met a few weeks later.


Mintwoded Ayele (Mekonen), Conrad’s wife, grew up in Gojjam, Ethiopia, and recognised the Ge’ez Amharic captions on the painting straight away, as well as each action of each frame. In 39 frames, we learned the painting depicts the yearly farming cycle in what Mintwoded believes is the North-Western federal state of Gojjam.


A rough translation of each frame’s meaning, based on the Amharic descriptions, can be found further down, and corresponds by number to the image below:




WHAT’S IN THE PAINTING?

Mintwoded provided a magnificent amount of detail as we walked through each action during this year long journey of farming in her home province. This type of painting, she pointed out, is not uncommon and appears to be relatively recent, though this hasn’t been confirmed.


She discerns the painting as being from Gojjam state based on the people depicted, especially the hair style of the women, their clothing, jewelry and their tattoos – see frames 30 and 31, amongst others, for example. Yonas Tadesse, an Ethiopian photographer, details tattooing practice in a 2022 Instagram post with the help of Qal Fessehaye:


“Until about a decade ago, young Ethiopian women from the rural areas used to have dark tattoos on their bodies. The practice of getting traditional tattoos was called Wukera, and it was particularly present in some areas of the Tigray and Amhara region of Ethiopia. Nowadays Wukera is a dying art…For many women it was a beauty trend, at the same time the practice was also used as a medical remedy. It was assumed that the tattoos were able to cure goiter, so many of the women got the tattoos done around the bump.”


Frames 30 and 31: Kneading dough and fetching firewood

Frame two shows two men and one woman traveling during the winter or rainy season. While the woman appears to be holding an umbrella, the two men are sheltering under a traditional reed “raincoat”. The two males are likely sheperds, or in this case, cowherds. According to Anna Parsons at the Anglo-Ethiopian society, these are: “Still seen in the Highlands today and the wearer can sit or squat on the ground and the raincoat stands up on the ground making a miniature tent.”


Frame 2: Traveling in the winter

In frames 16 and 17 it’s unclear what these creatures are. Mintwoded inferred this ambiguity to be an active choice in the paintings creation. Selam Abdella, a Cambridge MPhil Development Studies Student who graciously lent an eye examining and translating the painting as well, suggested it’s a band of Geladas. According to National Geographic:


“Gelada monkeys live only in the high mountain meadows of Ethiopia—an environment very unlike those of their forest- or savanna-dwelling primate relatives. This high-altitude homeland is replete with steep, rocky cliffs. With their short and stumpy fingers, geladas are adept rock climbers. At night, the animals drop over precipice edges to sleep huddled together on ledges.”


EDIT: Through further collaboration, it appears that these are not in fact Gelada monkeys, but rather Hamadryas baboons (the former known for their red chests, while the latter have red bottoms).


Frames 16 and 17: Farmer’s wife is upset the animals are eating the harvest, and the farmer chases them away
Frames 16 and 17: Farmer’s wife is upset the animals are eating the harvest, and the farmer chases them away

Mintwoded and Selam also observed in frames 3, 10, and 13 the expression “ደቦ” (Debo) which signifies communal practice. Selam details this further:


“Debo is a practice in rural Ethiopia that’s a traditional way of carrying farm activities (weeding, threshing, harvesting etc.) communally. This practice can sometimes also extend beyond agricultural activities to renovating huts and other laborious tasks. There is a saying “50 lemons are a load for one person, but merely jewels for 50 people” so Debo is the materialisation of that expression.”


Frame 3: Farming together

Frame 10: Weeding together
Frame 13: Harvesting together

Frame 35 appears to show a man feeding a woman during a meal. This is known as ‘gursha’ in Ethiopia. Moyo Afrika detail this in a recent Instagram post:


“Gursha embodies the act of feeding someone a small bite using one’s hand. This act of sharing food goes beyond satisfying hunger; it symbolizes love, respect, and gratitude, making it a gesture of deep significance in Ethiopian culture. The Gursha ritual can be observed during various occasions, from communal gatherings and family celebrations to weddings and everyday interactions among friends and family members. When a host presents a dish, they meticulously select the most delectable portion and gently place it into the guest’s mouth with utmost care and respect.”


Frame 35: Dinner invitation with friends and family

After the excitement of translating the painting, I wanted to learn more about the Ethiopian practice and its style. The style has been naturally called “sequential” or “narrative”, and is often juxtaposed with the word “comic” (I only became aware of the painting when the African Studies Library put up a small display in support CRASSH’s summer conference “Comics and the Global South“).


MORE ON STYLE

It appears the style was first a traditional way of telling biblical stories, from the lives of Jesus and Mary, to the various Saints and other tales.


From further collaboration with colleagues at the Anglo-Ethiopian society, it appears this is an antika painting. Antika supposedly derives from the the Italian antica and its formula generally shared the stylistic elements of church painting but were created on the basis of oral lore instead of church texts (Weinerth 2014, 52). Antika represents a shift and a merger between the traditional use of the sequential style to depict biblical stories and feudal daily life. These paintings, not limited to the sequential style, were originally made to sell to foreigners. As John Mellors, Treasurer for the society, put it:


“There used to be workshops full of artists producing antika paintings in Addis Ababa, with pattern books that you could order paintings from, but the market collapsed during the nearly 30 year long civil war after Haile Selassie was deposed in the early 70s. There are still a few artists making this type of work in Addis Ababa, but it’s not as popular – possibly because there is now a thriving market for the more lucrative ‘modern art’.”


Gebrekristos Solomon is one such painter that runs a studio in Addis Ababa (The shop is no longer outside the Taitu Hotel but has moved about 100 metres – to the top of Mundy Street). Gebrekristos followed in the footsteps of his grandfather, a great painter, who established their family in Gojjam. Could he or his family have a hand in this painting?


Hailu Woldeyes, an Ethiopian painter who died in the 1950s, was commissioned by Germany in the 1930s to produce antika paintings for an exhibition at the Frobenius Institute. One of these paintings is described as “Monkeys attacking the harvest” (Weinerth 2014, 64), inviting curiosity about the significance of this considering its presence in “A Year of Farming”. To date I can’t find an image of it anywhere.


To find out more about the history of this painting style, look at From empire to airport: on antika-painting in Addis Ababa of the 1930s by Jörg Weinerth (pages 51-82). It’s in the open access publication Ethiopian Images of Self and Other by Felix Girke (ed.).


SIMILAR WORKS FOUND THROUGH PRELIMINARY RESEARCH

Below are similar works found online. Those that come up in a quick Google search tend to be on auction house websites. The Horniman Museum in South London holds several similar pieces in its collection, while the British Museum holds a few as well. Cambridge's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology holds similar paintings too.

Painting on cloth showing series of scenes from the life of the Queen of Sheba. Each panel depicts a particular episode and each is annotated.
Painted roll illustrating the life of the Queen of Sheba in 24 panels. Each panel has a purple frame. The drawings are made with a strong black outline. Painting mounted on dowels at top and bottom.
Linen cloth painted with scenes from the life of the Queen of Sheba. Each panel is annotated in Coptic.
“…Ethiopian painting imported to Italy by a diplomat during the Italian occupation of Ethiopia, in the late 1930s”. Circa 1938.
“The upper two lines show Months of Year form September to February and March to August, below the scenes of life.” Circa 1970.
“Depiction of the natioal epos of Ethiopia. The Kebra negest – How the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon in Jerusalem.” – Sophia Dege-Muller. Date unknown.
“Depiction of the natioal epos of Ethiopia. The Kebra negest – How the Queen of Sheba visited Solomon in Jerusalem.” – Sophia Dege-Muller. This image comes from an online album titled “03.29.08 british museum.” Date unknown.
Painting on cotton depicting scenes from the story of Solomon and Sheba. Held in the Horniman Museum.
Painting on cotton depicting the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon. Held at the Horniman Museum.
Painting on cotton depicting scenes from the story of King Solomon and Queen Sheba. Held at the Horniman Museum.
Painting on cotton depicting scenes from the story of King Solomon and Queen Sheba. Held at the Horniman Museum. Painting on cotton depicting scenes from the miracles of Mary. The largest scene represents Saint Michael weighing the souls of the dead and a devil disputing with the Virgin for a soul. Held at the Horniman Museum. This painting actually depicts just one story from the Miracles of Mary – the famous story of the cannibal of Kemer. The largest scene shows Mary rescuing him from the devil, his victims on one side of the scale (you see the heads in one pan) are outweighed by the mouthful of water (the blue in the other pan) that he gave a leper, who had asked for it in Mary’s name. Full story here: https://wendybelcher.com/african-literature/cannibal-of-qemer/ – You should be able to follow the scenes in the painting after reading the story. – John Mellors
A picture of Plate XLIV from Leroy’s 1967 Ethiopian Painting, in the Late Middle Ages and During the Gondar Dynasty. “[It] shows a scene which makes sense only in relation to the text it illustrates. These twelve niches, each enclosing three seated figures, represent the twelve tribes of Israel, of which the elect number about 141,000 (Rev. VII. 1-9). All the figures are of a striking physical type; even more remarkable is the trefoil form of the series of arches, which are derived from the Indian architecture of the same period.” (Leroy 1967, 39)
The Coronation of Haile Selassie: Oil on canvas. Ethiopia, 1930. This painting celebrates the coronation of the Emperor Haile Selassie in 1930. However, it is in the style of European depictions of the Last Supper, with animals instead of biblical figures – the Emperor is the lion in the centre of the picture. It is an example of the secular tradition in Ethiopian painting which began in the 1920s and grew out of a very ancient tradition of religious painting in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian church. The theme of restoration of order from disorder, though ostensibly biblical in origin, obviously has political connotations, and this particular image was painted in a similar vein by a number of Ethiopian artists of the time. Sir Edwin Chapan-Andrews KCMG OBE (1903-1980), acquired this painting at the time of the Emperor’s coronation in 1930 when he was acting Vice-Consul in the legation at Addis Ababa. From 1935-6 he served as consul in the eastern city of Harar and was awarded an OBE for his services during the Italian invasion. From 1940-1 he was political advisor to the Emperor and accompanied him on the military expedition which ended with Haile Selassie’s return to Addis Ababa. Loaned by the family of Sir Edwin Chapman-Andrews to the British Museum. AOA 2013.Loan01.1
Painting on cotton depicting two scenes. On the left, the first scene depicts an animal banquet with the lion seated centrally beneath a representation of a dove or the Holy Spirit, various animals seated peacefully together sharing food and drink, a colobus monkey reading the liturgy, and in the bottom left corner the devil is overcome. On the right, the second scene depicts animals in a wilderness, eating and attacking each other under the gaze of a winged devil who is seated on a hilltop, and the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove is driven away. Held at the Horniman Museum.
“The Crucifixion of Christ” – Painting on cotton, about 1855 Adwa, Northern Ethiopia. Artist unrecorded. This painting was made in the mid-19th century for the Church of the Saviour of the World at Adwa in northern Ethiopia. Its central image of the Crucifixion of Christ was painted to inspire devotion amongst Ethiopian Christians. It depicts several different episodes of Christ’s Crucifixion as if they are taking place at the same time. The smaller scenes around the edge celebrate Bishop Selama, head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church from 1841-1867, at the height of his power. The third scene to the left shows Bishop Selama anointing Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia at his coronation in 1855. These illustrations of Bishop Selama’s life provide an insight into the complex relationship between Church and State in Ethiopia in the 1860s. The painting acts as an important historical document of Ethiopian life, while also retaining its original power to inspire religious passion. AOA Af1893,1112.1. The painting was donated to the British Museum by the archaeologist James Theodore Bent in 1893, who purchased it from a priest at the church of Medhane Alam in Adwa, Ethiopia. For more information read Dorothy McEwan’s analysis. “The Image Revealed: Study and Conservation of a Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ethiopian Church Painting.” explores its restoration in context.
“State Visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ethiopia, 1965” Oil on cotton, c.1965-1966, Johannes Tessema. Currently held in the British Embassy in Addis Ababa.

I am eternally grateful to Mintwoded and her husband Conrad for translating this painting and inspiring me to learn more about it. I also extend my thanks to Selam Abdella for her enthusiasm and insights into this work of art. Thanks as well to Anne Parsons and John Mellors from the Anglo-Ethiopian Society for their valuable contributions.


If you have any information about this painting, the style it’s painted in, or if you’re interested in consulting it for study, please get in touch with us: afr@lib.cam.ac.uk.


RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY AND EXPLORATION
  • Eyob Derillo is an independent researcher and former curator Ethiopian collections at the British Library. His Twitter (X) explores many aspects of Ethiopian art.

  • Ethiopost records the history of Ethiopia through brilliant stamps.

  • Higgitt, Catherine, Heidi Cutts, Lynne Harrison, and Pippa Cruickshank. 2010. “The Image Revealed: Study and Conservation of a Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ethiopian Church Painting.” British Museum Technical Research Bulletin 4 (January).

  • Addis Fine Art is a leading African contemporary art gallery with locations in London and Addis Ababa. The gallery was founded in 2016 by Rakeb Sile and Mesai Haileleul, with a focus on artists from Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa, and its diasporas.

  • The Princeton Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Egyptian Miracles of Mary (PEMM) – (Open Access): a comprehensive resource for the 1,000+ miracle stories written about and the 2,500+ images painted of the Virgin Mary in these African countries, and preserved in Geʿez between 1300 and the present. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY
  • Higgitt, C. et al. (2010). “The Image Revealed: Study and Conservation of a Mid-Nineteenth-Century Ethiopian Church Painting.” British Museum Technical Research Bulletin 4 (January).

  • Available online.

  • Leroy, J. (1967). Ethiopian Painting, in the Late Middle Ages and During the Gondar Dynasty. Translated from the original Italian by C. Pace. London: Merlin.

  • You can view this at Cambridge’s University Library, and the African Studies Library holds an Italian version.

  • WeinerthIn, J. (2014). “From empire to airport: on antika-painting in Addis Ababa of the 1930s” in Girke, F. ed. Ethiopian Images of Self and Other. Schriften Des Zentrums Für Interdisziplinäre Regionalstudien 2. Halle an der Saale: Univ.-Verl. Halle-Wittenberg.

  • Available online free.


Written by Ben Carson, Senior Library Assistant to the Centre of African Studies Library, Cambridge University.

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