The videomaker Theo Eshetu has a Dutch mother and Ethiopian father, was born in London, spent a few years of his childhood in Ethiopia and currently lives in Rome. He has made numerous videos on subjects stemming from an interest in religious and profane rituals, scientific iconography, art and anthropology. This work is a documentary report of a trip to Ethiopia. Eshetu visited the country and the people who share his origin and reports here on the meeting with his grandfather, Tekle Tsadik Medouria, a remarkable man and a prominent historian in his own country. During conversations with his grandfather (the two have not seen each other for twenty-five years) the elder man reminisces about personal memories and speaks of important events from Ethiopia's history. With a vast amount of footage, mainly his own work but also some from existing material, Eshetu creates a unique image of this eastern African country which, with its many peoples and languages, has known wide diversity in culture and religion. It is refreshing to see something other than the poverty, drought and famine that we in the industrialized world usually get dished up. Eshetu gives us a vivid picture of the different faces of the country: flying above the bare plateau, talking with the people exploring relics from the legends and - on the basis of stories told by his grandfather and made visual by old footage - the national history. The advantage of using video here is in the documentary qualities of the medium, principally in being able to have (in a practical sense) close contact with the people. And, Eshetu demonstrates once again that video is a form of art - witness his experiments in colour, form and sound, and the flowing manner in which the work has been edited.
– Marieke van Hal
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Assistant director.: Rory Logsdail, Editing: Walter Fasano, Production: White Light/Eve M. Silvester
Theo Eshetu ° 1958, London (UK)
Lives and works in Rome (Italy)
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