Throughout her 25-year old career, Ethiopian photographer and artist Aida Muluneh has been a distinctive voice in contemporary photography recognised as a leader in her field and as a change-maker in Africa. Her vivid and carefully staged photographs of painted figures in surreal settings draw on African iconography, architecture and textiles to create visual narratives that blur the boundaries between photography, painting and performance. Her ongoing exhibition at Efie Gallery in Dubai, closing soon on April 5, 2026, featuring 10 of new works.

To create the works in this exhibition — shot at the artist’s studio in Abidjan, West Africa, using painted backdrops and a cast of body-painted models — Muluneh developed an experimental process that bridges photography and printmaking, hand-finishing each work in collaboration with artisans in the UAE. Through silkscreen printing and hand-painting techniques, she has transformed each photograph into a unique object that is tactile, layered and painterly in texture.

The works are characterised by bold geometric compositions and recurring symbols such as eyes, keys, masks, flowers, and ancestral motifs, mostly rendered in striking primary colours. They continue Muluneh’s ongoing enquiry into ideas of identity, womanhood and heritage through a lens of material experimentation. Highly stylised and meticulously crafted, the works on view show both Muluneh’s mastery of photography and her ability to continue innovating. Born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 1974, Aïda Muluneh ’s work is in permanent collections including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art, the Hood Museum, the RISD Museum of Art, and the Museum of Biblical Art in the US, as well as The Dubai Collection in the UAE.