Amanuel Tesfaye
a market stall district in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Amanuel Tesfaye wakes each morning before dawn to inspect the livestock at his bustling market stall in Addis Ababa. His days are a chaotic whirlwind of negotiating prices and ensuring the welfare of the animals in transit, supporting smallholder farming families who count on those exchanges. Nights offer little respite, with the hum of idling engines invading his restless sleep, awakening with bits of twine or cattle receipts clutched in hand, symbols of his continual struggle to manage life's overlapping details.
About
Obsession
The sound of an idling car engine at night
Voice
Thrumming tension with brittle edges
Artistic Medium
Animal hair and market receipts
Technique
Weaving and binding artifacts by candlelight
Influences
Early morning market chaos, keeping ledgers, the nocturnal engine hum
Materials
Goat wool, cattle tags, twine, wax from candle drippings
Scale
Roughly the size of a livestock ledger
Selected 6 times · Last: April 04, 2026
