Icons of devotion/icons of trade: creativity and entrepreneurship in contemporary "traditional" Ethiopian painting.(Critical essay)

Aksum is one of Ethiopia's major tourist destinations. Although only a small town in the highlands of northern Ethiopia, it is the spiritual home of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (EOC) and rich in ancient monuments. Archaeologically it has been occupied since c. 350 BCE. Later, c. 100-600 CE, it is where the capital of the Aksumite empire once stood, and from where it dominated an area from the highlands of northern Ethiopia and southern Eritrea to the Red Sea and at times beyond. Its fine architectural stonework is plainly evident in the elite residences, tombs, and the carved stelae that dot the landscape. Coins of copper, bronze, and gold reveal the roots of an exceptional metalworking tradition, while works of stone and clay, including figurative sculpture, are evidence of a fine sculpture tradition.

Not long after the introduction of Christianity to the region in the early fourth century, Aksum became a recognized center for the production of paraphernalia associated with the church. Today the production of metal objects, from censers, sistra, and horns to processional, hand, and neck crosses, continues to thrive. So too does a tradition of religious painting--illuminations in manuscripts, icons on wood, and large paintings on cloth destined for the walls of churches. A tradition that has been practiced for the better part of 1500 years, the paintings of the EOC have both taught and sustained the Christian faith. For those who could not read or write--which for many centuries was, and still is, the condition of most Ethiopians--the teachings of the church have been presented in pictorial narratives grounded in the Orthodox faith. Today, more often than not, paintings cover the walls of Ethiopian churches, and sometimes the ceilings as well (Fig. 1).

Scores of metalworkers and painters in Aksum and the surrounding region remain prolific producers of such objects. Parishioners and church officials purchase and commission paintings and other religious paraphernalia directly from artists in their homes, and at religious festivals, where artists sell their work (Sobania and Silverman 2006). At the same time, the dozen or more tourist shops in Aksum are also full of their metalwork and paintings, often displayed and sold alongside much older objects. The range of souvenirs for visitors is extensive. There is archaeological material--primarily stone and clay figurative sculpture and metal coins associated with ancient Aksum, and occasionally pre-Aksumite culture--some of it authentic, some fake, but all illegal to export. Religious objects are ever-present, especially crosses of all shapes and sizes--neck crosses, hand crosses, and processional crosses of bronze, copper, iron, and silver. Visitors can also find a wide variety of paintings on cloth, leather, or parchment, or on wood--primarily diptychs and triptychs of various sizes--as well as jewelry--both used and new. Household objects include baskets as well as items of wood, from headrests and coffee trays carved in Ethiopia to masks from as far away as Ghana (Fig. 2). Many of these items are pastiches or innovations created specifically for visitors to Ethiopia, such as miniaturized grave posts from the Konso in the far south of the country, wood headrests decorated with beadwork, wood relief carvings of scenes of rural life, as well as religious paintings on animal skin or set in elaborately carved wood cases.

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Prior to the twentieth century, the liturgical objects and paintings were produced for local use in churches, or in the case of metal jewelry, for individuals as adornment. The first shift in this localized production came when Emperor Menelik II (r. 1889-1913) began giving gifts of paintings to diplomats and other important visitors to his court. The most significant change, however, came with the expansion of tourism in Ethiopia during the second half of the twentieth century. Two events in the early 1960s created an entirely new market for the makers of ecclesiastical art as well as household objects. One was the founding of the Organization of African Unity in Addis Ababa in 1963, which brought diplomats from across the continent and around the world to its headquarters in the capital. The other was the creation and marketing to tourists of the "Ethiopian Historic Route" by the Ethiopian Tourist Organization and Ethiopian Airlines about the same time. (1) The nascent trade in art and artifacts was dramatically curtailed during the reign of the Derg government (1974-1991), whose anti-Western politics discouraged foreign travel to Ethiopia. Further challenges to the tourist trade came with the tensions that arose following Eritrea's independence in 1993 and the border war that erupted in 1998. Over the past decade, with Ethiopia promoted by the tourist industry as a cultural heritage destination and a place for adventure travel, this trade has rebounded and is once again on the verge of flourishing. (2) Today, while a significant portion of artistic production in Aksum is still destined for use in the region's churches, the more lucrative market for the town's many painters and metalworkers is the foreigners who come to visit the historic town. Some of their products are also sent for sale to the tourist shops of Addis Ababa. Like many artists and artisans in Africa who originally were trained and participated in traditions that were primarily directed towards local communities, but later found other audiences for their work, Ethiopian painters, as well as metal and wood workers, participate in both of these markets. Although what they paint, carve, or fabricate is the same as what they have always produced, is what they make then art, artifact, or commodity?

The recent observation of Ruth B. Phillips and Christopher Steiner, that art, artifact, and commodity should not be seen as distinct and separate categories, but must be "merged into a single domain where the categories are seen to inform one another rather than to compete in their claims for social primacy and cultural value" (Phillips and Steiner 1999:16), corresponds well with the new directions in the spiritually grounded visual traditions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. This observation is most relevant in the context of the phenomenon we are studying, where ecclesiastical objects function within the framework of categories Phillips and Steiner have set forth. (3) Though the new pieces being produced--be they icons, mural paintings, manuscript books, crosses, vestments, or a range of other objects--are purchased by visitors and taken home as souvenirs, artifacts, or works of art, some of them are also purchased by parishioners, priests, and nuns for use in local churches. These works carry the same symbolic and communicative qualities--the same "social primacy and cultural value"--as works produced solely for local use in years past. For Ethiopian Orthodox Christians, these objects continue to have the same significance and are imbued with the same spirituality they have always had, even with their recent appropriation by the souvenir market.