Theo Eshetu

Theo Eshetu is a British/Ethiopian/Italian video artist born in London and raised between Ethiopia, Senegal, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, and Italy. He has worked in media art since 1982, creating installations, video art works, and television documentaries. As a videomaker, he explores the expressive capabilities of the medium and the manipulation of the language of television. Exploring themes and imagery from anthropology, art history, scientific research, and religious iconography, his work redefines how electronic media shapes identity and perception. World cultures, particularly the relationship of African and European cultures, often inform Eshetu’s work. His multi-national background speaks to the complexity of identity in an increasingly globalised world. 

Theo Eshetu was born in 1958 in London and grew up in Addis Ababa, Dakar and London before establishing himself in Rome. He currently lives and works betweeen Rome and Berlin. Throughout the '80s and '90s, his works have been shown at major video art festivals, receiving awards in Berlin, Milan and Locarno. Eshetu's works have been presented at Von Verdrängtem, Der Nacht Und Der Farbe Schwarz (2018, curated by Heidi Brunnschweiler), Documenta 14 (2017), the Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle (2015), Göteborg Biennial (2015), Kochi Biennale (2014), the 54th Venice Biennal (2011), the Sharjah Biennial (2011), The Tropics (2009, curated by Alfons Hug) and Snap Judgements (2006, curated by Okwui Enwezor). His work has appeared throughout Italy, England, Germany, South Africa, Canada, the United States, Brazil, Japan, and China, and he has been featured in such major exhibitions as DieTropen (2008), Snap Judgments (2006), Digital Africa (2003) Sense of Time at LACMA and the Smithsonian Institute (2017), documenta14 in Athens and Kassel (2017) and the Venice and Gwangju Biennales among others. His works are in the collections of Tate Britain and MoMA. He was a guest Visual Artist at the DAAD, Berlin, in 2012 and received a fellowship at the Smithsonian Institute in 2022 and  most recently another at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London (2023)