Portrait of fashion designer Bisrat Negassi
Design Indaba
Cape Town, South Africa
Eritrean fashion designer Bisrat Negassi was selected by Design Indaba to take part in our collaborative initiative with Google Arts & Culture, titled Colours of Africa. Africa is known for its bold, unapologetic use of colour. Stories are told in pigments, tones and hues; a kaleidoscope as diverse as the cultures and peoples of the continent. For the initiative, we asked 60 African creatives to capture the unique spirit of their country in a colour which represents home to them. The projects they have created are personal and distinct stories of Africa, put into images, videos, texts and illustrations. Each artist has also attempted to articulate what being African means to their identity and view of the world.
- Title: Portrait of fashion designer Bisrat Negassi
- Original Source: Design Indaba
- What it Means to be African: To be African is to identify with Africa's long and strong, the told and the untold histories, and the ongoing struggle for harmony and unity.
- Subject: Bisrat Negassi
- Rationale: My name means “messenger of good news” in Tigrinya, my mother tongue. I was born in Asmara, Eritrea. I choose the colour red to symbolically represent Eritrea; it represents the blood that has been shed on this soil. From 1961 to 1991 Eritrea was drawn into a long civil war. Ethiopia declared Eritrea to be the 14th province of Ethiopia and the Eritrean people were deprived of all their rights. People were murdered for no reason, just for being Eritrean – children, students, men and women all died. Eritrea started fighting back for its freedom. For 30 years, women and men fought side by side for independence, equality and self-determination. Much blood was shed and many lives were destroyed. The independent country of today is built on the values of self-determination and on those who gave their lives to achieve freedom. Although it is a young and small country, Eritrea is a diverse nation with multiple religions and nine different languages and cultures. Despite this incredible diversity, it is harmonious and unified. Above all I am inspired and strengthened by the story of the Eritrean women – revolutionaries, mothers, daughters and sisters – who have stood up for equality and the liberation from foreign rule and patriarchy. Red is Power. Red is Life. Red is Love. Red is Blood. Red is Beauty. Red is Female. I associate all of this with my home. ERITREA. The connection of sister- and brotherhood. That profound connection with our heritage and ancestors. Red is family – the blood that flows through our veins. One heart, one people. That is us – that is me. Earth. Woman. Unity. Harmony. This is red. This is life. This is Eritrea.
- Project: Colors of Africa
- Location: Eritrea
- Lead Quote: Above all I am inspired and strengthened by the herstory of the Eritrean women – revolutionaries, mothers, daughters and sisters – who have stood up for equality and the liberation from foreign rule and patriarchy. Red is Female. I associate all of this with my home, Eritrea.
- Hex Code: B62F26
- Colour Choice: Dem Red
- Biography: Negassi is the eponymous brand of fashion designer Bisrat Negassi. Born in Eritrea, she grew up in Germany and has worked and studied in Germany, Italy, USA. Negassi now lives and works between the cities of Hamburg and Paris. With her brand Negassi creates transcultural fashion, inspired by all of the places she has lived and seen, as well as her African heritage. In 2016, Bisrat Negassi co-founded the artspace M.Bassy in Hamburg. It is an embassy, stage and open salon for encounters, conversations and collaborations between contemporary artists from Africa and the diaspora.
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