December 10, 2025
Artist Tsedaye Makonnen speaks about her practice, which spans sculpture, textiles, performance, and curation. Makonnen, born in Washington, D.C. to Ethiopian immigrants, is a mother, birthworker, and sanctuary builder whose practice centers around Black feminist theory, migration, and reproductive rights. Her light sculptures, textiles, and performances function as a contemporary bridge to Byzantine and Medieval art, particularly through her engagement with spiritual symbolism, sacred objects, and embodied ritual practices. Drawing on her East African heritage, Makonnen reclaims, reinterprets, and reactivates visual and spiritual lineages historically sidelined by Western art canons. 

Plan Your Visit

• Admission is free.
• This event takes place in Favrot Auditorium at the Glassell School of Art. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
• Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map

About the Artist
Tsedaye Makonnen’s work is held in the collections of the Studio Museum in Harlem and the Library of Congress. She is one of two living artists commissioned to show and perform in the Africa and Byzantium exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and she co-curated the Walters Art Museum’s traveling exhibition Ethiopia at the Crossroads. Makonnen has performed at the Venice Biennale as part of Simone Leigh’s Loophole of Retreat and has held fellowships at the Clark Art Institute and the Smithsonian. Her light sculptures, acquired by the Smithsonian in 2021, are on view at the National Museum of African Art, and she recently completed a permanent commission for the Medieval gallery at the Walters. Furthermore, the artist recently collaborated with the Williams College Museum of Art and the Clark on her Astral Sea series, which culminated in a major outdoor performance and publication in October 2025.