Addis Foto Fest

Addis Foto Fest
Name	Addis Foto Fest
Founded	2010
Founder	Aida Muluneh
Location	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Frequency	Biennial (varies)
Genre	Photography festival, visual arts

Addis Foto Fest is a biennial photography festival held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, founded to showcase contemporary photographic practice across Africa and the African diaspora. The festival brings together photographers, curators, critics, institutions, and audiences from cities such as Cairo, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Lagos, Accra, Kigali, Dakar, Marrakesh, Khartoum, Harare, Dar es Salaam, Kampala, Windhoek, Casablanca, Tunis, Algiers, Abuja, Monrovia, Freetown, Conakry, Bamako, Ouagadougou, Brazzaville, Kinshasa, Antananarivo, Port Louis, Maputo, Luanda, Libreville, Mauritius, Addis Ababa’s museums and galleries. The festival emphasizes photographic storytelling, visual culture, and engagement with diasporic networks including participants from London, Paris, New York City, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Brussels, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, Toronto, Vancouver, Mexico City, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Beijing.

History

Founded in 2010 by photographer and curator Aida Muluneh, the festival grew from photographic workshops and street-level exhibitions into a major international event. Early editions featured exchanges with institutions like the British Council, Goethe-Institut, Alliance Française, UNESCO, African Union, United Nations, Smithsonian Institution, Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, International Center of Photography, Getty Research Institute, Ludwig Forum, Fondation Cartier, Serpentine Galleries, National Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts, Brooklyn Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Detroit Institute of Arts, and regional partners. Over successive editions the festival expanded its roster to include artists and projects connected to exhibitions and biennials such as the Venice Biennale, Documenta, Sharjah Biennial, Biennale de Dakar, Biennale of Sydney, and Biennale of Johannesburg.

Organization and Leadership

The festival’s founding leadership includes Aida Muluneh and a core team that has collaborated with curators, producers, and cultural managers from organizations like British Council, Goethe-Institut Addis Ababa, Alliance Française Addis, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopian National Theatre, National Museum of Ethiopia, Horn of Africa Regional Cultural Center, Ethiopian Cultural Heritage Authority, African Artists’ Foundation, Prince Claus Fund, Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, GIZ, UNESCO Addis Ababa, and private sponsors. Advisory and curatorial input has come from figures associated with Okwui Enwezor, Chris Dercon, Simon Njami, Bisi Silva, Yinka Shonibare, Hassan Hajjaj, Zanele Muholi, Samuel Fosso, Seydou Keïta, Malick Sidibé, Guy Tillim, Jo Ractliffe, Jade Doskow, Bouchra Khalili, Mohamed Bourouissa, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Aïda Muluneh collaborators, and younger curators emerging from institutions such as University of the Arts London, Rhode Island School of Design, Columbia University, Yale University, Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, and Royal College of Art.

Program and Themes

Program strands typically include solo exhibitions, group shows, portfolio reviews, panel discussions, artist talks, workshops, and projects addressing topics resonant with regions and diasporas represented. Past thematic concerns have engaged histories and contemporary debates linked to colonialism-era archives in Paris, Lisbon, Madrid, Brussels, Berlin, London, and Rome, transnational migration routes connecting Mediterranean Sea ports like Lampedusa and Ceuta, urban transformation in metropoles such as Cairo, Istanbul, Lagos, Addis Ababa, Nairobi, Kinshasa, and Dakar, memory and post-conflict recovery in contexts including Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Mozambique, Angola, and South Africa, as well as diasporic identity conversations tracing networks to Harlem, Soho, Notting Hill, Brooklyn, Bronx, Harare Districts, Le Plateau, and Sandton.

Venues and Exhibitions

Exhibitions have been staged across a mix of institutional and unconventional sites: the National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University Fine Arts Building, Ethiopian National Theatre, contemporary art spaces linked to Africa Hall, independent galleries, public squares, and pop-up venues in neighborhoods such as Piassa and Bole. Collaboration with museums and galleries has involved partnerships with collections and curators from National Museum of African Art, Museum of Contemporary African Art, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, Iziko South African National Gallery, MIMA, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, and regional art centers like Zeitz MOCAA and Bag Factory.

Education and Community Outreach

Education programs emphasize mentorship, portfolio reviews, student exhibitions, and workshops tied to institutions including Addis Ababa University, National Theatre School of Addis Ababa, British Council Ethiopia, Goethe-Institut Addis Ababa, Alliance Française Addis, and youth projects supported by foundations such as the Prince Claus Fund and Ford Foundation. Community outreach initiatives have worked with local schools, cultural centers, and grassroots organizations in districts like Gullele, Kirkos, Arada, Yeka, and Bole to broaden participation and skills transfer, while exchanges have connected emerging photographers to residency programs at institutions like RAW Material Company, Bag Factory Artists' Studios, Recontres de Bamako, Maison des Arts de Nantes, and university photography programs in Istanbul, Cairo, Beirut, Athens, Lisbon, and Valencia.

Awards and Recognition

The festival and its participants have received recognition from global arts bodies and awards circuits, including nominations and prizes associated with Prince Claus Awards, Pritzker Prize-adjacent cultural grants, Getty Grants, Hasselblad Foundation acknowledgments, Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize shortlists, Prix Pictet-related projects, and critical coverage in outlets such as The New York Times, The Guardian, Le Monde, Al Jazeera English, BBC News, CNN, The Economist, Frieze, Artforum, Aperture, The New Yorker, and National Geographic. Photographers who have shown work at the festival have gone on to solo exhibitions and commissions with institutions like Museum of Modern Art, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, Serpentine Galleries, Whitney Museum of American Art, SFMOMA, and major biennials and triennials worldwide.

Category:Arts festivals in Ethiopia