Compromise

Born in Ethiopia, Aïda Muluneh explores the complexities of being an African woman through her series of photographic portraits that utilize vibrant colors, patterns, and traditional body painting styles from across Africa. Compromise investigates the global question of freedom and civil liberties through unconventional and striking juxtapositions—the black and white striped background represents personal and societal attempts to confine access to rights. The model’s hands are painted a similar blue to the shade on the Ethiopian flag, where the color symbolizes peace, as does the white dove.

By obscuring the skin color of her portrait subjects with paint and designs that allude to Ethiopia’s past, Muluneh draws the viewer’s attention away from questions of race to reflect upon the image’s specific cultural messages and deeper, universal significance. Muluneh explains, “The masking in my photographs is, in a sense, my attempt to uncover other masks and consider underlying truths.”