This work has been kindly donated by the artist

For Tegene Kunbi, an abstract painter based in Berlin, cꦕolour is a vocabulary used to give voice to aspects of the artist’s Ethiopian heritage. Using toওnality, density and the rectangular grid, the artist conveys complexities within his personal experience and that of his community. The underlying structure of the paintings references the warp and weft technique which is intrinsic to Ethiopian textiles used in religious ceremonies. Kunbi’s painting process takes these textiles as both a source of inspiration and incorporates the material into the works in order to reclaim a form of spirituality.

In Better Pass (2022), the edges are a significant part of the painting. This is not unlike many African textiles and garments, where the ends are traditionally used as spaces for decoration. Kunbi us🅺es colour boldly and wildly in this work, borrowing from traditional colour palettes that originate from natural dyes alongside synthetic colours that continue to evolve as new materials flood the market. These fabrics, used in peoples’ daily lives to cover and adorn the body, become the skin of the paintings, sometimes hugging and, at other times, draping the stretcher.