Aida Buzuayehu - International Community School of Addis Ababa

Aida Buzuayehu 

000212009 

EXTENDED 

ESSAY 

International Community School 

Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA 

Evaluate the effects of an oppressive 

regime on women artists in Ethiopia. 

Case Study: The Derg and Desta Hagos.

INTRODUCTION 

Art has always been and always will be a significant part of my life. Since I was 

an infant, I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of different colors, techniques, shades, 

and medias as well as the multiple forms of art including dance and music. It was due to 

my current participation in higher level art as well as my continuous curiosity and love 

for art that I decided to do my Extended Essay on Visual Arts. More specifically; I have 

a constant obsession with Ethiopian contemporary and fine art. I’ve always shared an 

undying passion for Ethiopian traditional crosses, ancient buildings, rock-hewn 

churches, unique cultures and the various magnificent cities that reside in the beautiful 

but isolated country, Ethiopia. Given the overall beauty that Ethiopia consists of, like 

every other nation, discrimination against gender was and to a certain extent still is a 

huge part of Ethiopian society. As a female with a great amount of passion for art this 

topic has had a powerful effect on me due to my feminist views and my aspiration to 

further promote women’s rights on the grounds of social, political and economic 

equality to men. This lead me to further investigate the difficulty and hardship female 

artists faced due to the communist military gang that came to power in Ethiopia in the 

1900’s, also known as the Derg. This topic is significant because discrimination against 

women isn’t advocated or promoted on a wide spectrum here in Ethiopia, thus making 

this topic worthy of investigation. Henceforth the evaluation of the effects of an 

oppressive regime, also known as the Derg, on female artists in Ethiopia is 

exceedingly essential. 

1

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 

The Derg was a communist military party that came to power in Ethiopia after 

Emperor Haile Sellasie had temporarily left Ethiopia. It then ruled the country from 

1974 until 1987. ‘Derg’ in Amharic means ‘committee of the Armed Forces, Police, and 

Territory Army’ (Zewde, 55). It was these people that executed and imprisoned 

thousands of its rivals without a legitimate trial. The Derg was officially announced 

June 28 1974 by a group of military officers in order to maintain law and order. The 

cause of this perpetual dilemma is the impotency of the government following major 

decline in the armed forces of Ethiopia earlier that year. However the members of the 

Derg were not directly involved in this insurrection nor were this the first military 

committee established. In addition, over the following months revolutionary groups in 

the Ethiopian military came to the conclusion that the Emperor was acting on behalf of 

the hated aristocracy, and when a group of notables petitioned for the release of a 

number of government ministers and officials who were under arrest for corruption and 

other crimes, the announcement of the Derg occurred (Zewde, 56). Although the 

emperor at the time was Emperor Haile Sellasie, there were in fact many other key 

figures in the regime. Oppressors such as Empress Taitu, Mengistu Haile Maryam as 

well as his wife etc, were vital people that caused major events in Ethiopian history. In 

the context of Ethiopia, Eastern Africa and Africa in general a woman in power is often 

an unsightly scenario. Women were oppressed and discriminated against for many 

years. However it hasn’t always been this way, in fact before the Derg women were 

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‘equals’. Prior to 1974, women in Ethiopia were powerful and influential (Zewde, 56). 

Empress Taitu, was brought up in an aristocratic family where her father was famously 

known as Emperor Betul Haile Maryam. His daughter, Empress Taitu’s grandmother, 

was the daughter of Emperor Guga, the ruling family in the Oromo region. Evidently 

the Empress Taitu was a direct descendant of a royal family, of which most were women 

in power. After several failed marriages, Empress Taitu Betul married King Menelek of 

Shewa and later Emperor Menelek II of Ethiopia (Zewde 60). Empress Taitu was known 

for her considerable political power as the wife of Menelek. Citizens were convinced 

that it was because of the head figure in place at the time, Haile Sellasie. Due to this 

controversy, students, most of which were art students protested through the streets of 

Addis for the emperor to be changed (Zewde, 58). Shamefully, women artists never 

have been and currently aren’t very popular or common in the 20 th century. Desta 

Hagos, the first female artist to attain her own gallery in Ethiopia, has set the standard 

for other female artists here in Ethiopia. She has become an inspiration to many and 

continues to undertake and execute beautiful art till this day. 

Opening ceremony of one of Desta 

Hagos' solo exhibition at the Hilton Hotel, 

1994 

3

INTRODUCING THE ARTIST 

Desta Hagos was born in 1952 in a city by the name of Adwa. At the age of nine, 

she moved to the capital, Addis Ababa with her family and was enrolled in the Etege 

Menen Middle School (Woldearege, 16). She began to fall in love with art at the age of 

five when she used to pick flowers from the garden to look at. “When I was just a tiny 

child I remember that I adored flowers and plants, and I loved to cut flowers so that I 

could look at and preserve their beauty at home,” she said while reminiscing her 

merciless love and cruel affection for beauty and colors. It was her father, one of her 

greatest muses in life that amended her atrocious habits. Her father would tell her, 

“Don’t kill the flowers; they have life like you. I will buy you coloring pencils and you 

can draw them exactly as they were alive.” (Woldearege, 16). Desta Hagos had a 

‘beautiful, love-filled and happy’ childhood while growing up in Ethiopia with four 

other siblings (Hagos, March 2011). At the age of fourteen, Hagos entered the 

International Children’s Arts Competition organized by the Indian embassy and won 

first place. She submitted three paintings, two of which were a landscape painting and 

one of a blind man (Hagos, March 2011). 

“Blind Man” 

Desta Hagos 

Tempera on paper 

1966 

4

Desta Hagos 

Graduation Day, 1969 

Similar to her father, Desta Hagos 

enjoyed listening to music and poetry as 

well as watching drama productions. The 

‘kirar’, an Ethiopian instrument that 

replicates the sound of a violin, had a 

positive effect on her artwork. Music, 

theater, dancing and performing arts in 

general influenced Desta’s art greatly. 

Desta Hagos, a talented artist grew up and 

received her diploma in Fine Arts in 1969 from 

the Fine Arts school. Soon after her graduation 

from the Addis Ababa School of Fine Arts, she 

was recognized as the first Ethiopian female 

artist to do a solo painting exhibition in 

Ethiopia. Desta commented that it was due to 

her love of music and the arts that she was able 

to gain such a title as she always uses music as a 

temperament in her artwork. “Listening to music 

has always been a backdrop for my artistic 

temperament,” (Hagos, May 2011). 

Desta Hagos performing at the 

University Cultural Center, 1967 

5

Desta Hagos at CLU, 1971 

Aside from this, one of her greatest 

inspirations and mentors in life was the 

infamous artist Gebre Kirstos Desta. Again 

being the only female, a couple years later 

she opened an art studio with four 

accomplished male artists at the University 

where she experienced becoming an actress. 

“I had no idea what I was doing. I just used 

to love watching plays. But artist Debebe 

Eshetu and the late Wogayehu Negatu 

encouraged me to try my hand at it,” (Hagos, 

May 2011). In January 1970, after several attempts at careers in performing arts, Desta 

traveled to the United States to attend the California Lutheran University (CLU) where 

she graduated with a B.A degree in Fine Arts. During a relaxed interview, when asked to 

describe her personality, she responded by saying, “I’ve always been a very social 

person; I had many friends all over the world. One of my friends in California has 

named her first blue-eyed, blonde daughter ‘Desta’ after me”. Clearly Desta was a 

cheerful person and a joy to be around. It was theses characteristics that allowed her to 

always end up amongst the top as the only female. 

6

During her enrollment at the university, Desta won a full scholarship during her 

second year, which enabled her to participate in four exhibitions during her four years 

of study at CLU (Mimi, 16). Two of the four exhibitions she accomplished on her own, 

at this time, an Ethiopian female artist with her own exhibition was a tremendous 

accomplishment, at least for Desta’s family (Teferra, 32). In 1975, Desta was yearning 

to return to her home country however in the middle of victory tragedy awaited her. She 

returned only to find her country afflicted by oppression and political tension. To make 

matters worse, the life of her ex-husband had been threatened so he had to leave the 

country. Shortly after his departure she learned that she was pregnant with his child. 

Once more, she was a lone woman in a distressing society, which caused her to 

temporarily put her art career on hold. She joined the Ethiopian Tourist Organization in 

“Pounding Pepper” 

Desta Hagos 

Acrylic and Tempera on canvas 

1982 

1976 and worked there until 1986 where she transferred to 

the Ethiopian Tourist Trading Enterprise as Acting Head of 

the Promotion and Public Relations of the Artistic 

Department for many years (Mimi, 16). Fortunately after, 

her painting “Pounding Pepper”, a painting demonstrating a 

domestic scene that depicts women with infants tied to their 

backs while pounding pepper; a common sight in Ethiopia, 

was selected among other works of art from thirteen other 

African countries to be displayed in the Contemporary 

African Art Exhibition in Canada (Teferra, 32). 

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An oppressive regime was not conducive to artistic development in Ethiopia as 

she was only able to do a few group exhibitions during the two decades in which the 

Derg situated. Undeniably, there were very few female artists in Ethiopia due to many 

circumstances. “The current situation in Ethiopia is not very encouraging. The lack of 

economic growth is by itself an obstacle to the development of art. Artists are generally 

not well paid and society is quick to discourage them, especially if they are female. 

Women are taught to underestimate their own values and abilities so that it takes not 

only talent but also a great love for the art to continue working in this 

profession” (Teferra, 32). Desta Hagos believes that females have important roles in 

Ethiopian society. “Art goes hand in hand with the development of society. In Ethiopia 

there was a great restriction against artistic expression during the previous regime, 

which isn’t the case anymore. The newfound freedom has allowed more artists to come 

out but there is still a lot to be done. Woman artists can contribute greatly to society and 

their works are often educational, they might for example reflect the constraint imposed 

on women from expressing themselves. Also art helps create confidence in our 

culture” (Teferra, 32). Despite her gender, Hagos was a fighter. Although the regime 

had changed many aspects of peoples lives, by talking land from people and 

imprisoning random citizens, in 1994 Hagos held her first solo exhibition in decades. “I 

worked day and night in order to display my paintings; I missed not showing my art for 

so long” (Hagos, May 2011). Later she began participating in several more exhibitions 

with famous contemporary Ethiopian artists known as Maitre Artist Afework Tekle, one 

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of the most famous male artists at the time. Desta 

Hagos is a skilled fine artist as she uses music as 

her most prominent source of inspiration while 

producing works of abstract and semi-abstract. 

“Most of my works are semi-abstract and I use 

Ethiopian landscapes and day-to-day life as my 

subject matter” (Hagos, March 2010). “…Desta 

shows both a high degree of technical ability both 

rare and essential in an artist. She can make you stop and look. She can even make you 

see…” (Ethiopian Herald, 1969) 

Maitre Artist Afework Tekle, with 

Desta Hagos 

"Landscape" 

Desta Hagos 

Oil on canvas 

9

Henceforth, Desta Hagos is a remarkable woman. Circumstances and conditions beyond 

her control obligated her to face the world alone, and become a single mother. In both 

her career and her personal life, she was and still is one of the most successful and 

respected artists in Ethiopia. Despite the complications and disadvantages that the Derg 

imposed onto Desta Hagos, women and society in general, she was able to maintain her 

beautiful sense of worth as well as her promising and optimistic frame of mind. 

"Semi Abstract" 

Desta Hagos 

Oil on canvas 

10

LOOKING AT HER PAINTINGS 

Desta Hagos often features flowers in her paintings in order to convey the theme 

of feminism through the delicate and lurid look that flowers express. 

In this painting, Desta Hagos depicts her incessant love for flowers. The colors used 

exemplify life itself. Her father used to say “Don’t kill the flowers, they have life like 

you…”(Woldearege, 16). Her father’s advice influenced this piece greatly. Hagos uses a 

total of five colors to accomplish this piece; green, yellow, white, red and blue which 

ultimately gives the painting a more simple yet immensely complex meaning to it. 

“Flowers” 

Desta Hagos 

Acrylic on canvas 

1982 

11

“Exile” is another piece by Desta Hagos that depicts African refugees fleeing their 

homes, families and friends as a result of a man-made disaster. Here Desta Hagos 

employs historical context while giving reference to man-made disasters, The Derg. As 

shown in the painting, Hagos only features female characters in this painting in order to 

continually address the theme of feminism. 

“Exile” 

Desta Hagos 


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It’s a national tradition in Ethiopia to invite all you friends for a cup of coffee and 

some popcorn. Women in Ethiopia usually bond over a cup of coffee. Buna be Weray 

features several women talking. They all look happy but in reality they all have 

miserable lives at home and they get together once in a while in order to escape their 

lives, even if its just for a short while. Buna be Wetet meaning coffee with milk is a very 

common beverage to drink at home usually on Sundays with popcorn. The title of this 

piece however is Buna be Weray meaning "coffee with gossip". 

“Buna Be Weray” 

Desta Hagos 


13

In Conspiracy by Desta Hagos, the expression on the protagonists face depicts intrigue, 

controversy and quarrel. Her face at first glance looks like she’s smiling but instead you 

see sadness and scheme. The fact that there are only girls in the painting denotes the fact 

that all women are feeling the same way and going through the same emotions. 

“Conspiracy” 

Desta Hagos 


14

Abeba another piece by Desta Hagos is another flower piece. Abeba in Amharic 

means flower. It’s featuring a beautiful white daisy, which signifies purity and 

feminism. The fact that there are leaves and stems covering the flowers beauty so that 

the full beauty is hidden symbolizes the fact that society didn’t let women show their 

full potential. Woman aren’t granted the same opportunities and privileges as men. 

Going back to fact that women did not have as many rights as men and were not 

considered equals. 

“Abeba” 

Desta Hagos 


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This piece is a telltale in the sense that it automatically gives a visual indication of 

women’s’ melancholy. The young girl in this piece, the protagonist of the painting is 

trying to write something but is unable to because her candle keeps burning out. There’s 

a person in the left hand corner that keeps blowing the candle out and there are lots of 

used matches all over the table depicting the amount of times she’s tried. In this piece I 

believe Desta Hagos was trying to personify the misfortune, suffering and tribulation 

that females went through due to their gender. The person blowing out the candle 

personifies society as it never gave women a chance but us women, despite our 

adversity as shown by the young girls tears never gave up, hence the amount of 

matches. 

“Melancholy” 

Desta Hagos 


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Hasab by Desta Hagos features a young woman in deep, complex thought. Hagos 

makes it semi abstract for the purpose of depicting the complexity and abstract of her 

thoughts. It’s a woman instead of a man because women encountered hardship not men. 

Henceforth the Derg clearly influenced her art 

“Hasab” 

Desta Hagos 


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OTHER FEMALE ARTISTS 

In this comparison I examine other Ethiopian contemporary female artists that 

perhaps experienced similar problems to Desta Hagos. Artists that paint traditionally 

and those taught in the academic and fine arts traditions. What these women have in 

common is the strength they’ve acquired in order to become artists as well as the 

challenges and hardships inflicted by a competitive, male-dominated market 

(Tecklemichael, 1). Another similarity these women might have is their relatively 

similar themes in most of their work that feature women as the main subject or 

protagonist of the piece. Similar to fine artist Desta Hagos, these women that I will later 

further examine, utilize their art as a way to signify the relationship between “the 

production of art and the exercise of social or political power”,(Teklemichael, 1). In 

other words they used their art as a way to achieve their goal of success (Teklemichael, 

2) but at the same time to enhance their significance and influence in society. 

Henceforth women used their art as a cry for help or recognition in a male-dominated 

society while making ‘women’ the subject matter of their pieces. Desta Hagos uses 

flowers and female characters as the subject matter in most of her art while using 

abstract and semi-abstract techniques. As previously stated, women have been the 

subject matter of various art pieces whether they’re religious or non religious. 

As journalist Makeda Tecklemichel mentioned in her article Contemporary 

women artists in Ethiopia, “St Mary plays the role of mother, Brutawit as a victim 

waiting to be saved by St George, the queen of Sheba as a royal woman used to 

18

legitimize the solomonic dynasty, and ordinary women as housewives and helpmates of 

men, who all hold a significant place in Ethiopian art”. In summary, most of the art 

work during this era had hidden messages that reveled daily life as well as the daily 

activities and pursuit of the average Ethiopian Christian woman. All of these women 

weren’t given the opportunity to get proper art training due to various unfortunate 

circumstances. Instead they were to stay home and fulfill household tasks while 

receiving theological education simultaneously. Its crucial however to note that these 

women although not given the same opportunities as men, in terms of a higher 

education, were active advocates of other creative traditions typically produced by 

women (Teklemichael, 4). Things like pottery, basket making, textile weaving and 

embroidery. Sadly the people that produce these fabulous items are very rarely 

considered ‘artists’ (Teklemichael, 4). 

The five contemporary artists I have chosen to examine go by the names of 

Woyzero Lemlem Gebremeskal, Emahoy Wolate-Yohannes Sebehatu, Yordanos 

Berhanemeskal, Elizabeth Habte-Wolde and Merikokeb Berhanu. Woyzero Lemlems’ 

love for art like most artists began at a young age. “She began painting by using 

charcoal to draw pictures of animals and people on the mud walls of her 

house” (Teklemichael, 5). It was a priest passing by her home that discovered her talent 

and advised her to travel from her village to the nearest city to pursue her dreams of 

becoming an artist. Although Woyzero Zelalem lacked former art training as well as a 

19

proper mentor, she didn’t let her gender or lack of proper materials stand in her way. It’s 

for these reasons that I believe she’s similar to Desta Hagos. The second artist, Emahoy 

Wolate-Yohannes Sebehatu fell in love with fine art as an adolescent who decided to 

become a nun, hence the prefix in her name ‘Emahoy’ which means nun in Amharic. 

She acquired her artistic skills while receiving theological education in one of the 

Churches located on Lake Tana. Similar to Desta Hagos and Woyzero Lemlem 

Gebremeskal, Emahoy grew up in a town without any painters or mentors which made 

it more difficult to pursue an art career with the additional burden of being female. 

However, Emahoy Wolate-Yohannes stood firm in her belief that painting is a gift from 

God and He gives this gift to both men and women (Teklemichael, 5). 

Desta Hagos posing next to her artworks 

Yordnos Berhanemeskal, the third artist 

I’ve chosen to introduce was born into an art family, 

unlike the other artists. Her father was the best- 

known artist of her time as she grew up surrounded 

by traditional and religious art, which has positively 

affected her. Her biggest inspiration, similar to Desta 

Hagos, was her father as she would sit behind him 

while he was painting and imitate the art he produced 

when he wasn’t home (Teklemicheal, 5). Yordanos is one of very few women that has 

received proper art training and has graduated from the School of Fine Arts with a 

20

degree in art. The fourth artist, Elizabeth Habte-Wolde, was one of those girls who 

picked up a paintbrush one day and just began painting. She was born with a natural 

gift. Similar to Yordanos she’s received a higher education in Howard University and is 

now a successful artist, few women get this chance. Lastly, Merikokeb Berhanu, the 

youngest of the five had a slightly different passion. She would practice drawing from 

still life and models. Merikokeb’s passion resembles that of Desta Hagos’s in the sense 

that she would draw from still life. Desta Hagos’s passion was fueled when she spent 

most of her youth years trying to replicate flowers on paper. Ultimately, what all these 

women have in common is the various difficulties they had to overcome to reach the 

same goal. 

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CONCLUSION 

In conclusion Desta Hagos and her experiences have influenced many people in 

Ethiopia. Her daughter; her greatest inspiration, exemplifies the daughter of a hard 

working woman, the first female artist in Ethiopia to have her own gallery, a powerful, 

determining and well grounded human being. The Ethiopian revolution had a significant 

effect on the works of female artist Desta Hagos, and has influenced her work her life 

and her family to a great extent. Fine artist Desta Hagos set up her own destiny with her 

stubborn and heavy desire for art. She gained a respectable reputation in Ethiopia as a 

strong-willed ‘habesha’. The Derg totally influenced Desta's persona and the way she 

thinks as a human being. Throughout her adolescent years she was a social vibrant 

young woman, with an incessant passion for life itself. The Derg, the climax of her story 

changed everything around her, and today Desta is a woman that was affected by the 

revolution with a powerful story to tell. She is a strong woman, had it not been for her 

fearless behavior and the belief she had in herself, she wouldn’t be where she is today. 

Henceforth The Derg affected women artists greatly in the sense that it caused women 

to second-guess their potential, qualifications, capabilities and opportunities as females 

in an oppressive regime. 

Word Count: 3742 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2010, Sheraton Addis 

Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2011, Sheraton Addis 

Abebaw Ayalew. 2002. A History of Painting in Eastern Gojjam in the 18 th 19 th 

Centuries: A Study of the ‘Second Gondarine’ Style of painting in selected churches and 

Monasteries. MA thesis, Addis Ababa University. 

Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 24 March 2011. 

Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 16 April 2011. 

Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 4 May 2011. 

Hagos, Desta and Teferra, Sehin. “Woman Artist in Ethiopia”. Desta Hagos Articles. 

(2007). Print. 

Teshome Gebre Mariam. The Ethiopian Herald June 1 1969, seventh edition:EHP. 

Teklemichael, Makeda. “Contemporary Women Artist in Ethiopia”. 2008. http:// 

www.questiaschool.com/reader/printPaginator 

Woldearege, Mimi. “A unique female artist”.Desta Hagos Article. (2009) 

Teferra, Sehin. “Desta Hagos Tecle”. Desta Hagos Article. 

Seyoum Wolde. 1998 “Sonic Aspects of Post Revolution Visual Arts in Ethiopia. 

“Proceedings of the International Congress of Ethiopian Studies, pp. 7-25. Moscow: 

Nauka Publishers 

Zewde, Baharu. 1980. A History of Modern Ethiopia. MA Thesis.Addis Ababa 

University. 

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ICONOGRAPHY 

“Abeba”, Desta Hagos, acrylic. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2011, Sheraton Addis 

“Blind Man”, Desta Hagos, tempera, 1966. Mimi Woldearege. Desta Hagos Article. A 

unique female artist. 

“Buna be Weray”, Desta Hagos, acrylic, Art of Ethiopia Gallery. August 2010, Sheraton 

Addis 

“Conspiracy”, Desta Hagos, acrylic and tempera. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2010, 

Sheraton Addis 

Desta Hagos, Graduqtion Day, 1969 

Desta Hagos performing at the University Cultural Center, 1967 

Desta Hagos at CLU, 1971 

Desta Hagos posing next to her art works. 

“Exile”, Desta Hagos, tempera and acrylic. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2010, 

Sheraton Addis 

“Figure 1”, Desta Hagos, semi-abstract. Mimi Woldearege. Desta Hagos Aricle. A 

unique female artist. 

“Figure 2”, Desta Hagos, landscape. Mimi Woldearege. Desta Hagos Aricle. A unique 

female artist. 

“Flowers”, Desta Hagos, acrylic on canvas, 1982. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 

2010, Sheraton Addis 

“Hasab”, Desta Hagos, acrylic. Art of Ethiopia Gallery, August 2011, Sheraton Addis 

Maitre Artist Afework Tekle, with Desta Hagos 

¨Melancholy¨, Desta Hagos, acrylic on canvas. Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 16 

April 2011. 

Opening ceremony of one of Desta Hagos` solo exhibitions at the Hilton Hotel, 1994 

“Pounding Pepper”, Desta Hagos, acrylic and tempera,1982. Sehin Teffera. Desta 

Hagos Article. Woman Artist in Ethiopia. 

¨Semi Abstract¨, Desta Hagos, oil on canvas. Hagos, Desta. Personal interview. 4 May 

2011 

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Aida Buzuayehu - International Community School of Addis Ababa

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