Tsedaye Makonnen

Tsedaye Makonnen is an Ethiopian-American interdisciplinary artist, a mother and a former doula. Recurring themes present in her work are identity, colorism, womanhood, ritual and kinship. She's particularly drawn to conveying the African Diaspora's creative responses to assimilating, destroying and recreating the Self within new and/or hostile territories, whether that happens to be a new country or a hospital room. As of late, she has been connecting the forced migrations taking place in DC and abroad through performance art and installations.

Makonnen is a part of New York's performance art scene and has shown at Five Myles Gallery, El Museo del Barrio, Grace Exhibition Space, Panoply Performance Lab, ABCNoRio, and more. Her artistic practice recently includes a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship, a DC Public Library Maker Residency, a DC Oral History Grant, and a Savage-Lewis Artist Residency in Martha’s Vineyard. She has performed at the Venice Biennale, Art Basel Miami, the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Queens Museum, the Festival International d’Art Performance in Martinique, the Chale Wote Street Art Festival in Ghana, the Fendika Cultural Center in Ethiopia, and more. She has taken part in speaking engagements at NYU, DPLAFest in Chicago, Common Field, Black Portraiture, and more.

Makonnen was featured as one of 19 individuals who make life more interesting in DC in the 2019 edition of Washington City Paper’s annual People Issue. Makonnen lives in Washington, DC, with her 9-year-old son.