The Street Came First

Abdi Bekele, Sehin Tewabe and Amanuel Tsegaye have their lenses trained on Addis Ababa’s streets. In the Ethiopian capital, it always seems hot. Commuters stride, schoolchildren wait, and mothers endure. Demonstrating the ebb and flow of daylight hours on the denizens of Addis, this month’s photo essays arrive as postcards filled with stories.

Sehin Tewabe

“The street came first. I started off with photographing the streets. I try to capture the everyday, mundane moment; those moments we all take for granted…the candid, the daily routine and everyday life. Photography is timeless, and it should stay as an archive to pass on to future generations.”

“I capture candid photos; they are not staged. I don’t manipulate my street photographs…the natural frames, lines, the chaos, and the way the sunlight falls on my subjects. That dramatic light that falls on morning commuters intrigues me. It helps me capture daily routines.”

Abdi Bekele

“I'm hoping to start a conversation about the working conditions of women working on construction sites. This project offers a snippet of the story of women shaping the city’s future with work that is heavily associated with one gender, or masculinity.”

“Buildings in a city often tell the story of a booming economic prestige. As numerous construction sites appear all over the capital, women are often overlooked as daily workers, building stories with hard physical labour; their work often treated as menial.”

“I noticed similarities between these blue collar women. Most, in their 20s, had tried their hand at least once as housemaids. Almost all had migrated to Addis in search of a better future. They are playing an instrumental part in weaving this city’s story, embodied by a rapidly emerging concrete jungle.”

Amanuel Tsegaye

“My photos show the calm side of my hometown. Addis is a vibrant city, but I want to rewrite the narrative. Mornings have taught me that people wake up early to work for a life they desperately want to live, even in tough times. Morning light is so gentle, energetic and beautiful. I try to use it as a backlight, as it wraps around my subjects, bathing them with beauty.”

“As in other traditional societies, in Ethiopia, a woman's worth is measured in terms of her role both as a mother and wife. Over 85 percent of Ethiopian women reside in rural areas, where households are engaged primarily in subsistence agriculture.”

“Back in the day, parents in rural areas used to keep their kids busy with household chores and agriculture, and they wouldn't let their children go to school. But now, it's getting better and parents have awareness of the positive impact of education in their children's lives.”