Gediyon Kifle

For Gediyon Kifle, photography is a tool to capture humanity and the beauty of nature. He uses the camera to explore the human condition and gain a greater clarity of those experiences that have influenced his artistic vision. At the heart of his work is an exploration of identity, individuality and culture. He strives to project the humanity of his subjects through their personal stories. His frame of reference is that the photographer and the subject are collaborators in the expressive potential of the photograph. An important part of his creative process is to get to know his subjects through conversations regarding interests and challenges and to use these insights to make their lives visible.

Kifle has had recent solo shows at the Edison Place Gallery in DC and the Reece Museum in Johnson City, TN, and group shows in other DC galleries. He received an award from the Plymouth Center for the Arts (Plymouth, MA) and also a James Beard Award for International Book for The Soul of New Cuisine (Wiley and Sons, 2006). His work has also been published in the books Africa on My Mind (Albert Bonniers Forlag, 2008) and Discovery of a Continent (Wiley and Sons, 2007). Kifle has a BS from East Tennessee State University.