This week’s Art in the Middle Exhibition Spotlight is Ethiopian artist Aïda Muluneh, whose highly anticipated new series "This Bloom I Borrow" opens at Alserkal Avenue’s Efie Gallery, from 17 January to 5 April 2026.
Marking her second solo exhibition at the gallery, the show features over ten never-before-seen works that highlight Muluneh’s distinctive approach to contemporary African photography.
Born in Addis Ababa, Mulunah has been a leading figure in contemporary African art for more than 25 years. Her vividly staged photographs of painted figures set in surreal, symbolic landscapes explore identity and womanhood - blending photography, painting and performance into unforgettable visual narratives.
The works in this exhibition were shot in Muluneh’s Abidjan studio, using body-painted models and painted backdrops. Bold geometric compositions and recurring symbols - eyes, masks, keys, flowers and ancestral motifs - bring her narratives to life, mostly rendered in striking primary colours.
Each photograph is hand-finished at The Workshop DXB in Alserkal Avenue, bridging photography and printmaking through silkscreen printing and hand-painting. The result is a tactile, layered, painterly series that transforms each work into a unique object.
"These works reflect on the dualities that shape existence and explore the dialogue between the visible and the hidden, between personal history and collective memory, power and vulnerability, faith and transformation. A meditation on the importance of beauty and the resilience of spirit, each piece becomes an excavation of memory and emotion, questioning how culture, belief and gender define and often confine the self", says Muluneh.
Visit: efiegallery.com
Hayley is passionate about everything 90s, from art and fashion to music. Her love for glossy, artful coffee table books started early during her days in book publishing and has only grown since. She collects luxury magazines from around the world, enjoys exploring creative workshops around the city, and always chases dinners with a view, preferably by the beach.
