Artist Spotlight

Born in Ethiopia, Yadesa Boja, also known as Yaddi, immigrated to the United States in 1995. Yaddi showed an interest in art since his early childhood. Even though he does not remember when he started painting, as a sixth grader his school commissioned him to paint a mural.
Yaddi’s first exposure and memories of art was as a child gazing at murals often found in Ethiopian Orthodox churches. These murals used line drawings filled with bold, vibrant colors.
Yaddi believes his work is a byproduct of the cultural diversity he enjoyed while living in Addis Ababa and Seattle. In his work he tries to capture the life of those who are ‘invisible’ to the mainstream, and he hopes that his work will become a tool for social change.

From top to bottom the respective names of the paintings are: Prisoners of Heaven, Worshippers & Dreamer.